Warley Woods is a community trust park, with a mixture of woodlands, meadow, and a golf course. It was opened in 1906 and became known as ‘The People’s Park’ and from my visits during this project, I can see why. The community is at the heart of the woods, welcoming new and old members to enjoy and engage with the wonderful park and its numerous events such as volunteering sessions, events for children in the school holidays, and organised walks for members of the public to learn more about the environment. 

 

Their mission is “to ensure the long-term restoration and sustainability of Warley Woods Park, and to develop its facilities and events as a central focus for the local community, thus encouraging greater numbers and diversity of people to enjoy this unique environment”. They hold volunteering sessions, where local community members can come along and help restore areas of the woods that need a bit of care. They remove non-native species that block out all the light, and eventually underplant with native species to try and reintroduce biodiversity. 

 

For my project, I followed along in these sessions to learn and talk to the volunteers to get an understanding of why the park is so important, why the work they do is beneficial and what their long-term goals are for these areas. I thoroughly enjoyed getting to know these volunteers and the woods they love so much and have a greater understanding now of why it’s so important to look after our wildlife. Standing in the woods under the winter sunshine, seeing and listening to how much the park really means to these individuals, has really altered my perspective of how we take care of our environment.