Celebrating wildflowers in council parks

TWO budding young artists have won a competition to turn their artwork into brand new park signage.

Newark and Sherwood District Council recently added new wildflower areas in two of its parks – Sconce and Devon Park, Newark and Vicar Water Country Park, Clipstone – as part of its ongoing commitment to make the district greener.

Areas have been sown with wildflower seeds that will flower, creating a haven for wildlife and supplying essential nectar for pollinators such as bees and butterflies.

To celebrate and signpost park visitors to the wildflower areas, the council launched a competition inviting children to submit their own artwork which would be turned into oak signs that would be displayed in each park.

Anna Kessler (12) from Southwell and Marianne Smith (8) from Newark were named the winners and in addition to their own signs, which are now in place, they were also presented a Field Studies Guide ‘Pollinator Pack’ to help with identifying the bees, butterflies and insects that visit their own gardens at home.

The Collingham Men in Sheds – a community group passionate about upcycing and repurposing wood - framed the signs.

Both Anna and Marianne were presented their prizes by Lynn Preece, Environmental Programme Officer at Newark and Sherwood District Council when they visited the parks to see their signage in place.

Councillor David Lloyd, Leader of Newark and Sherwood District Council, said: “A huge well done to Anna and Marianne for their designs and for their help promoting the important wildflower areas.

“We’re doing lots of work to make Newark and Sherwood cleaner, safer and greener and as part of that, ensuring our parks are friendly places for our native pollinators.

“When you visit our parks you’ll see we have a mixture of mown areas where people can walk and play, as well as the wildflower areas that are left to develop more naturally in our parks and improving the biodiversity in the district.”