We’d love to know how you rate Greenhead Park. You can complete the survey at www.loveparksweek.org.uk/your-park

Orienteering is an exciting outdoor sport that exercises both the mind and the body. The aim is to navigate in sequence between control points marked on a unique orienteering map and decide the best route to complete the course in the quickest time. It does not matter how young, old or fit you are, as you can run, walk or jog the course and progress at your own pace.

The new sessions are on Mondays 18th and 25th June and 2nd, 9th and 16th July from 5.30pm-6.30pm. Participants will learn to navigate quickly and accurately using a detailed map of the Park, use orienteering techniques and develop new skills. There’ll also be an optional 30 minutes physical training for orienteering at the end of each session.

Meet near the tennis courts – cost £1 per map.

You can find out more about orienteering at www.eastpennineoc.org.uk or contact Coach Viv Barraclough on 07968 243536 or  vivbarraclough@ntlworld.com.

Thanks to funding from the Big Lottery Community Wildlife Fund for the Wild About the Park project, we have lots of materials and equipment to help explore the different flora and fauna in Greenhead Park and nature-loving youngsters will also be able to carry out a range of conservation based tasks.

Nature Club and Young Wardens sessions are free but places are limited, so please email chrisl.smith@kirklees.gov.uk to book a place.

The modern timber pavilion will overlook the bowling greens, replacing the 1930′s timber pavilion which was past repair. Thanks to an Environmental Grant from the council, the building will be topped by a green roof, enhancing the appearance of the pavilion and providing a new wildlife habitat. We also plan to provide information and advice to people who would like to install a green roof of their own, using our roof as a practical example.

Once the pavilion is up and running, we hope to see regular bowling matches back in the park, and we will be working with the Bowling Club to find ways of encouraging people who haven’t tried bowling before to have a go. We’d love to hear from anyone who’s interested in bowling in Greenhead Park – you can contact us via the website or call in at one of our drop-in sessions.

Dog Control Orders were introduced by the government in 2005 and are part of the Clean Neighbourhoods and Environment Act, designed to help local authorities clean up their towns and cities.

The Dog Control Orders Regulations would allow the Council to carry out enforcement on four areas – dog fouling (failing to pick up after your dog); dogs to be on leads at all times in designated areas; dogs to be put on leads on request in designated areas; and dog exclusion areas.

The council has developed maps to show where the different Dog Control Orders are proposed to apply in Kirklees. Most of Greenhead Park would be designated as an area where dog owners can be asked to put unruly dogs on a lead. Dogs would be banned from the children’s play areas, paddling pool, sports courts and skate park, and would have to be kept on a lead on the bowling greens and in the car park behind the conservatory. The proposed dog control areas are shown on this map.

The council would welcome comments on the proposals by Friday 30 March 2012 . There are more details of the proposals, and how to give your views, on the council’s website.

There are lots of plans for using our newly restored park to the full in 2012, and we’ll also be looking at parts of the park, like the former putting green and ‘temporary’ play area, that still need sorting out. If you have any bright ideas, we’d love to hear them.

The walk will finish up at the Greenhead Park Community Room, in time for the Friends of Greenhead Park Annual General Meeting at 11am. All are welcome to join us to find out more about the Friends and our activities.

If you care about Greenhead Park and would like to be part of its future, why not join us?

The plan covers where we are now, where we want to get to, and an action plan sets out how we are going to get there.

The Friends of Greenhead Park are pleased that the council has set out publicly their aims and plans for the park and promised to involve the community in deciding on future actions and measuring their success. The plan will be reviewed annually and the Friends look forward to helping to make sure the views of park users are heard loud and clear.

Greenhead Park Management Plan 2012

We will be planting bulbs on Saturday 12 November from 1.30pm to 3.30pm, and volunteers to help would be very welcome.  If you can help, please contact us so that we can make sure we have enough tools.

By the end of March next year, we should have up to 14,000 wildflower plug plants for our woodland fringe too!  A lot of hard work has been put in by volunteers to produce these plants from seed, and we’d also like to thank the council’s nursery staff for their help with this and for letting us use the facilities at their nurseries at Bradley to raise the plants.

Crowds enjoy the spectacle

Crowds flocked into the park for the event and enjoyed a wide range of activities from walking on water on the paddling pool to making paper hat creations.  There was lots to see too including strolling performers, tightrope walking and  dare devil stunts on the skatepark.  The newly restored bandstand hosted a Bandstand Marathon and a spectacular firework display brought the day’s celebrations to a close.

Exhibition in the conservatory

The Friends of Greenhead Park organised Victorian games on the belvedere as well as mounting a special exhibition, A Park for the People. We also collected people’s memories of the park on our ‘memory tree’.

If you missed it on the day, you can still catch the exhibition in the conservatory.

Check out the council’s Facebook page for some great photos of the event.