Free green event to bring together community organisations involved in local green space

Monday, 30 January 2012

The event, Green Connect, is an opportunity for community groups, friends of parks groups and also parish councils to come together to share learning and experiences surrounding parks and green spaces.

With an aim of empowering and inspiring community organisations a selection of talks and workshops will look at how groups can become more successful, find fruitful funding opportunities and understand the opportunities for the future particularly surrounding the Big Society and Localism agendas.

The event is being organised by parks charity GreenSpace South West with partners Natural England. Karen Hughes, GreenSpace South West Regional Manager said “We know that community groups are successful; we have some fantastic community led projects and managed spaces spread right across the region. However with a focus being put on these groups by government and the sector, it’s important we bring people together to celebrate success, share knowledge and equip them as best we can to ensure parks and green spaces continue to thrive in our communities.”

Dot Isgrove from Natural England said: “Natural England is please to fund the ‘Green Connect South West’ event. We believe it is vital to provide opportunities for community groups to meet each other, share experiences, gain knowledge and develop strong supportive networks. Looking at the responses from similar events last year this is just what they want too so we hope to see as many people as can take part. The walled garden at Cannington is also well worth a visit with a very active group of its own so all in all Bridgwater College looks like a great venue for a really useful event.”

Martin Monk, Mayor of Yate Town Council, Debbie Phillips of Barnardos and Alison Slade of Somerset Wildlife Trust are just some of the speakers who will draw on successful project experience to inspire the group to reach out to a wider community and become more effective.

Interested in attending? E-mail This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or view website for further details.