Ilkeston - Flying The Green Flag
w/e 06 May 2012
All this week's pictures were taken with a Kodak DX6490

It's only a few weeks since we last featured Victoria Park but when the Duke of Rutland accepted an invitation to come and raise one of three flags marking the Green Flag Award that the park was credited with last year, it was only right to go and record the event. Pictured here with the Duke (left) are Councillor Mike Wallis (Lead Member for Culture and Leisure) and Councillor Kevin Miller (Mayor of Erewash) who presented the Duke with a gift to commemorate his visit.

After a few words of introduction by Councillor Wallis and the presentation of the gift, the Duke hoisted the first of the flags at the Bristol Road/Drummond Road entrance.

The flag was then lowered again for a photo shoot for members of the press who requested various poses by the Duke, other Civic dignitaries and other council staff. I just moved around and took various shots at random!

I then realised the difference between professional photographers and enthusiastic amateurs like myself. It seems if you are a professional with expensive and high tech cameras, you have no qualms about trampling on the flower beds whereas I, with my simple Kodak camera, found the zoom lens to be quite effective.

The final shot included members of the Green Space Team of council workers who are responsible for maintaining all the parks and open spaces in the Borough.

I think the professional photographers then continued to their next job but I joined the rest of the assembled people to take a walk through the park as the Duke viewed some of the features that had gone towards earning the Green Flag Award. One of them was the Mosaic Project in which students from the Ormiston Academy undertook in 2011 the design of a circular pebble mosaic which has been installed under the pergola. The Academy adopted Victoria Park in 2007 in a scheme that encourages young people to develop a caring attitude towards the environment and links with the citizenship element of the National Curriculum. As the professionals had left, it was my turn to pose a shot with the mosaic! Several information boards have been erected in the park including one about the mosaic (right) and these boards are another of the reasons that contributed to the awarding of the Green Flag.

Another information board has been installed by the Long Border and it includes photos and details that enable visitors to identify many of the trees, shrubs, herbaceous perennials and grasses in the border. It was replanted in 2009 and according to the board has been "designed with year round colour and interest in mind." As well as the photos and Latin names of the species that have been planted the information also includes the common names that to the layman are much more descriptive. These include Coral Bells, Sneezeweed, Coneflower, Bronze Fennel and Smokebush to name just a few.

The information board also states that "the flowers and foliage are intended to provide a hot colour scheme which will compliment the bedding displays in the central lawned area" and it has to be said that the red and yellow flowers currently in those beds were looking especially good for the Duke's visit. The present Duke of Rutland may also have noticed the large oak tree (on the left of the image above) that was planted by his ancestor on August 28th, 1902. While we were making our way through the park, a second flag was raised by council workers near the children's play area (right).

The honour of raising the third and final flag at the Bristol Road/Manners Avenue entrance was also given to two council workers, Phil Salt and Ken Duffield who are both members of the Green Space Team.

It was at this entrance that I commented to another member of the team about the flowers being trampled on but he was not too concerned saying that many of the flowers were already past their best and all the plants will soon be removed to allow the beds to be replanted with a theme to celebrate Queen Elizabeth II's Diamond Jubilee. It looks therefore that another visit to the park will soon be on the cards for a further selection of images. In the meantime the three green flags will fly to celebrate the award of this national mark of excellence, Victoria Park being the first in Erewash to achieve this status. To see a short video presentation of these images and more click here to visit YouTube.

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