Boost for Green Angels training after £10k of funding from the National Lottery

The popular Countess of Chester Country Park has been given a huge boost after being awarded £10,000 in National Lottery funding to support the Land Trust’s Green Angels programme on the park. The Trust, who owns and manages the park, will use the cash to run free environmental training courses and run community events in partnership with the park’s Friends group.

Green Angels involves a variety of free courses for adults with an environmental focus, giving people the chance to learn new skills, change their future prospects and make a difference in their community. Two courses have now been completed at the park since the funding was granted and have been incredibly popular.

A total of 23 people have participated in Environmental Education and All About Trees, which run one day a week over the course of four to six weeks.

Carolyn Hassall, Green Angels Project Manager at the Land Trust, said:

“I’m so pleased with the response we’ve had from the local community. The courses are designed to enhance people’s knowledge and skillset whilst making a difference to the local environment, and we’ve seen some fantastic achievements already.

“We finished off the Environmental Education course by having a session with Dee Point Primary School. The Green Angels trainees used their skills to teach the children about the wildlife at the park, making woodland boggart spirits from clay, learning how to identify trees and finding lots of mini-monsters in the pond along the way!

“The response to our All About Trees Course has been incredible – we’re oversubscribed! We’ll certainly be holding more courses at the park soon and details will be on our website and social media.”

The new funding from The National Lottery Community Fund, which distributes money raised by National Lottery players for good causes and is the largest community funder in the UK, will also see some fantastic events held on the park. This includes wreath making sessions, hedgelaying, and wildlife identifications sessions.

This will have a significant positive impact on the park, which has become a valuable community space since being transformed from landfill and opened as a Country Park in 2014. The park is managed on a day-to-day basis by TCV in partnership with the Land Trust, and has a fantastic Friends group.

Andy Scargill, Chair of the Friends of the Countess of Chester Country Park, said “The Friends group is delighted to be able to hold some fantastic activities at the park.

“The park has become so popular over the years and people are still discovering what they call a ‘hidden gem’ here. There’s so much to do at the park with our heritage trails, nature walks and volunteering sessions.

“The Countess of Chester Country Park has made such a positive impact on our lives and we’re pleased we can share this with others with thanks to the National Lottery Community Fund.”

Activities take place on the park nearly every day, including volunteering, Green Gym and the popular weekly parkrun.

For more information about the park, please visit our site page or find us on Facebook.