Friends of Mountsfield Park (FoMP) meeting 11am, Sunday 10th July 2022, Mountsfield Park Community Garden – All Welcome!

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Draft Agenda

  • Apologies
  • Introductions
  • Matters arising
  • AOB

If you can’t make the meeting but want to be involved in FoMP, please do get in touch: mountsfieldpark@gmail.com
Points for discussion at the meeting below, agenda TBC.

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Tree pits: plants vs glyphosate

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Reposted blog from the More Than Weed site https://morethanweeds.co.uk/2020/02/12/tree-pits-plants-vs-glyphosate/

More than Weeds

I posted the following tweet recently, which sparked some discussion. The image on the left shows a glyphosate-treated tree pit, where the plants have been sprayed and have subsequently died back, leaving a distinctive orange-brown carpet of dead growth. The tree pit on the right, seen in South London hosts a range of small plants such as chickweed (Stellaria media) and meadow grass (Poa annua).

Sprayed tree pits are not an uncommon sight in the UK. This European survey carried out between 1999 and 2001 showed that contrary to many countries which prefer mechanical removal, the…

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Mountsfield Park #Hope4Justice event Saturday 18th June 2022

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Hope 4 Justice

‘Involving over 1,000 young people, including students from 26 local schools, Hope 4 Justice weaves together music, choreography and spoken word in a mass protest performance about the climate emergency’.

As part of the Mayor’s London Borough of Culture 2022 celebrations, over 1,000 young people, including students from 26 local schools, will fill Lewisham’s Mountsfield Park on Saturday 18 June in two mass protest performances about the climate emergency.

Created and produced by Trinity Laban in collaboration with leading artists and local young people, Hope 4 Justice is an urgent and powerful call to action. Directed by Hannah Gittos, the socially-engaged project uses music, dance and spoken word to highlight issues such as air quality, ‘throw-away’ culture, and housing inequality in the Borough in a bid to make a difference. A thousand-strong choir of primary school children and musicians from South London Samba will perform a series of newly composed songs by Mercury Prize nominated composer, singer and multi-instrumentalist ESKA, imploring their communities to take action. 100 young dancers, including members of Bellingham Dances and Trinity Laban’s Youth Dance Company, will perform choreography led by Lead Choreographer and Trinity Laban alum, Sarah Golding, and Associate Choreographer Waddah Sinada, exploring their connection to the climate emergency.

Local teenagers will contribute spoken word interludes, mentored by writer and Young Poet Laureate for London (2021/22) Cecilia Knapp, questioning how we want the world to be in the future.

We are getting loud / We have woken up / The future is coming from all of us / We are powerful together / We are enough / This is our home / So let us move from here to hope / For a new Lewisham

Hope 4 Justice is the culmination of over a year-long engagement by Trinity Laban’s Children and Young People and Public Engagement programme. For the project, we have been working in partnership with Lewisham Music to deliver in-school music training.

Tickets for both 3pm and 14.30pm performances are free but ticketed.

Composer: ESKA
Lead Choreographer: Sarah Golding
Writer & Narrator: Cecilia Knapp
Director: Hannah Gittos
Associate Choreographer: Waddah Sinada

Dance Artists: Damien Anyasi, Blue Makwana, Chloe Stone
Dance Assistants: Kira Brown, Ebony Robinson, Holly Smith, Vivian Triant
Vocal Tutors: Alice Grant, Clare Caddick, Emily Coates
Vocal Assistants: Ellie Bingham, Caterina Carvalho, Georgina Innes-Myers, Nikita Roberts, Nathan Stubbings

#TLHope4Justice

Hope 4 Justice by ESKA, Cecilia Knapp, Sarah Golding and Lewisham young people, is created and produced by Trinity Laban. Co-commissioned by Trinity Laban and the Albany for We Are Lewisham. We Are Lewisham is presented by Lewisham Council and the Albany as part of the Mayor’s London Borough of Culture 2022.’

It is 8 years since Friends of Mountsfield Park campaigned for improved children’s play provision at Mountsfield Park

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Before 2015 we had a dreadful poorly designed rusting relic of a play area with a smaller detached area of better designed Timberplay equipment. When funds were eventually released by the Council to create a community garden and improve the play area, we campaigned for new well designed play provision. The Lewisham Council parks and regeneration teams had other ideas, they wanted to spend very little on play provision and repaint and reuse the old rusting play equipment. We strongly objected to this and Council staff reluctantly listened and their landscape design consultant BDP designed us a new play area with just some of the old play equipment.

Lewisham Council’s consultation on the Borough’s play provision ends 25th March 2022
https://consultation.lewisham.gov.uk/targeted-services-and-joint-cyp-commissioning/calling-all-parents-carers-pleased-tell-us-your-vi/

Mountsfield Park improvement plans below from 2014. The original plans included a cafe building. In 2014 we were asked to choose between a new cafe building and an improved play area, the Council said that there were insufficient funds for a cafe building, improved play area and a community garden. We asked for children’s play provision to be prioritised which they did, but it has been difficult since then to persuade the Council to properly maintain the space and do necessary repairs.

140815_Mountsfield Park Revised Playground Proposal

Mountsfield Park Improvement Plans – Contractors Start Work on Site 22nd September 2014

(91)LP001 General Arrangement Plan sheet 1 of 2

(91)LP002 General Arrangement Plan sheet 2 of 2

140815_Mountsfield Park Revised Playground Proposal (91)LP001 

Lewisham People’s Day at Mountsfield Park SE6 16th July 2022

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Lewisham People’s Day at Mountsfield Park SE6 16th July 2022.
More information:
https://www.wearelewisham.com/event/peoples-day/

“After a gap of four years, South-East London’s longest-running free festival People’s Day, will return as part of We Are Lewisham. Featuring music, art, craft and of course, all of the community, everyone’s invited to come along to People’s Day in 2022!

People’s Day will return to Lewisham in 2022! After a gap of four years, South-East London’s longest-running free festival is back as part of We Are Lewisham. The whole community is invited to listen to great music, see amazing art and get crafting, as well as take home some goodies from local businesses. People’s Day 2022 will be a huge celebration and everyone’s invited to come along and enjoy the fun.”

Meadow planting events at Mountsfield Park SE6 13th and 27th March 2022

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Meadow planting at Mountsfield Park 13th and 27th March 2022, 10.30am – midday. All welcome!

We will be planting some small UK native plant plugs: knapweed, oxeye daisy and meadow crane’s-bill. Meet at the community garden at 10.30am 13th and 27th March 2022. Bring a spade or trowel if you have one!
For more information contact: mountsfieldpark@gmail.com

Knapweed (centarea nigra) is a favourite for many of our pollinating insects, being a source of good quality nectar. And as well as supporting bees, butterflies and beetles its seeds provide food for many birds such as gold finches.

Oxeye daisy (Leucanthemum vulgare). The yellow centre of the oxeye daisy is made up of many small flowers which hold nectar and are exploited by various pollinating insects, including butterflies, bees and hoverflies.

Meadow crane’s-bill (Geranium pratense). The nectar-rich flowers of meadow crane’s-bill are a favourite of many species of bee, including buff-tailed and red-tailed bumblebees, and honeybees.