We can’t quite believe it but we organised our first, and hugely successful, DOG SHOW at the beginning of the month. We’d been thinking about doing this for a while, prompted by the huge increase in dog ownership since the pandemic and the need to engage with owners. We’ve been very fortunate to meet Rebecca Byrne of SuperDog London who has provided huge canine expertise and know how based on her successful local training business. We also couldn’t have done it without the massive support from Enable’s Events team who did a lot of the heavy lifting. Then we must thank all our sponsors, for their fabulous prizes, our judges, exhibitors – including two vets and the Council’s Animal Welfare Team - and last but not least our volunteers.
We had over 200 entries in 10 different classes and were really pleased with the enthusiasm, excitement and pure joy of the many owners and spectators who took part. Indeed, so successful was the event that we’re going to have to do it again next year!!
We hosted a number of events under the Council’s ‘Sustainable September’ banner including a talk on sustainability from Mike Burton, a member and local expert in sustainable finance; our first insect walk, led by Connor Butler of the Chelsea Physic Garden; and our last bat walk of the year, led by Iain Boulton – all very well attended and much enjoyed. We tried to make the dog show as sustainable as possible too, with the vets informing owners of the problem caused by over use of anti flea treatments, which if they get into ponds, lakes and water courses have a devastating effect on insect life. Watch this video clip from BBC Spring Watch and a guide from a local vet on how to respond
The bowls season came to a close with our final event - a birthday bowls bash with almost 20 of us on the green. The season has been the most successful ever with over 400 players at various time for a total of almost 40 sessions. As well as showing that the green is well used, it has generated a revenue stream which will help fund the upkeep of the green and hopefully a bit of investment for next season too.
The month ended with a well-attended talk by Sue Demont about the history of the Bolingbroke Hospital – formerly one of the Five houses of Bolingbroke Grove and now Bolingbroke Academy. You can catch it, along with all our previous talks, here.
We, the MAC and our fellow greenspace groups elsewhere in the borough have spent a lot of time trying to understand the implications of the Council’s decision to transfer various service from Enable ‘in house’. These include the entire tree team, the monitoring of the ground maintenance contract (currently held by Continental Landscapes) and biodiversity strategy. We’re now in discussions with the Council to make sure that the proactive, responsive and ultimately hugely effective Parks team are able to continue working with us as the Enable contract is revised and extended.