Great Outdoors Project Activities Archive 2009

Project Activities Main

Winter Celebration - National Wildflower Centre and Court Hey Park, Huyton

6th December 2009

Our popular Great Outdoors Health and Wellbeing marquee at the Winter
Celebration, encouraged over 300 people to make festive wreaths out of
natural materials. Held at the National Wildflower Centre in Court Hey Park,
Knowsley, on Dec 6th 2009 this event closes our 2009 season.

Thanks to Knowsley Council Green Space staff for supporting the Winter
Celebration. Our craft marquee, children's workshops, carol singing and
festive food brought over 2,000 visitors out on a cold winter's day for
fresh air in the park!

Winter Celebration pictures are available on the events images page.

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7th June 2009

Great Outdoors ran a Health & Wellbeing marquee for the second year at our hugely popular Knowlsley Green Fayre, in partnership with Knowsley MBC. We are also working for health at the Knowsley Flower Show on August 9th.

Set amongst our beautiful summer wildflower displays, healthy physical activities from walking, cycling, gardening, and wildlife spotting was promoted to encourage better understanding of how nature can improve our health and wellbeing. Knowsley Target: Wellbeing projects Pedal Away and NHS Knowsley were working with us in the marquee.

Annick Laroque from Pure Plant Power talked about medicinal plants, 'weeds' and healing and Slow Food Liverpool encouraged us to eat more healthily.

Children and family activities included learning more about the importance of bees and butterflies to healthy environments - and making giant wildlife scarecrows for our first Scarecrow Festival on 18th and 19th July at the National Wildflower Centre.

A signing choir and tai chi added to the 'Natural Chill' for better wellbeing through the Great Outdoors.

Green Fayre pictures are available on the events images page.

European Neighbours Day - Old Rough (Quarry Green), Northwood, Kirkby

26th May 2009-06-02

Quarry Green Residents invited Great Outdoors to support their European Neighbours Day, held on their open space called the Old Rough, or Quarry Green Woods. Landlife has been working with Knowsley MBC and local residents to improve the Old Rough with native wildflowers, as part of our Great Outdoors project. Huge colourful landscapes in 2008 were a great success and have led to Quarry Green residents becoming more involved with improving and caring for the Old Rough through volunteering events.

European Neighbours Day celebrates community and local people working together. The 'festival' brought together local groups with outdoor activities, music and food. We had just completed all the wildflower seed sowing for 2009 on the Old Rough and Knowsley MBC finished two creative natural play areas for local young people. Old Rough is now being designated as a park and will benefit from a regular Ranger service programme.

More pictures are available on the events images page.

Practitioner Workshop - Visit to Offshoots Permaculture Project, Burnley

7th May 2009

A group of 20 Knowsley health practitioners and community champions went on a fact finding trip to the award winning Target Wellbeing project in Burnley, Offshoots in Townley Park.

Manager Phil Dewhurst had inspired everyone at our November 2008 Nature and Public Health open day at the National Wildflower Centre, with his presentation about this organic food growing project in the heart of Burnley. We wanted to see some best practice and learn more about how we could start to develop community food growing in Knowsley to improve health and wellbeing.

The visit was a great success - our thanks to Alan at Offshoots, expert beekeeper as well as a very knowledgeable plantsman who enthused us all with his love of the job! Offshoots is a must see for anyone interested in learning about holistic food growing and low impact gardening. Everything is recycled and every centimetre of space is used to benefit wildlife and people. A totally inspirational team working on an excellent project.
For feedback from the group click here. Short Video of the trip here.

Offshoot Trip pictures are available on the events images page.

Wildflowers for Health - Arts Display, Community Wall, Huyton Library and Gallery

From 9th February to 31st May 2009

Local people sowed wildflowers in Kirkby parks and greenspaces in 2008 and created 8 Seed Tiles to celebrate the launch of Great Outdoors. This is a new 4 year project by Landlife at the National Wildflower Centre to make new wildflower places for better health and wellbeing of people in Knowsley.

We worked with artists Urban Canvas on the seed tiles at two wildflower seed sowing events in Wignall Park, Southdene, and at the Old Rough (Quarry Green) in Northwood. The wonderful wildflowers we sowed here and elsewhere emerged all over Kirkby last summer, turning parks and
greenspaces into special places to walk, exercise, meet friends and enjoy nature.
For more information.

More Events Pictures are available on our 'Events images' page.