Love parks week 23rd July to 1st August

 

We couldn’t  let Parks week pass us by when they have been such a life line for all of us over the past year during lock down.  Everyone in Neighbourhood Networks has benefited from the green space on our door steps whether its been walking alone, a social distance walk, exercise and just a total escape from the rest of the world.

Parks without us even realising it are good for our mental health and wellbeing and Neighbourhood Networks Facebook page has been littered with articles and stories around how members have been making the most of their green space. Members and staff across the organsiation have definitely been spending more time outside.

Having nowhere to go has encouraged everyone to explore different parks than we maybe would normally. At times this has made you feel like have you were miles away and its amazing the difference a change of scenery can make especially when you are feeling a bit fed up.

Lots of member activities have also moved outdoors and parks have become a regular meeting space for members. Making the most of our parks seems to be a theme that is continuing and members have been getting creative using parks to have picnics, outdoor meetings to plan activities and keeping active through sport like walking football.

Another activity encouraging members to get outdoors has been painting stones to celebrate Neighbourhood Networks 20th birthday celebrations.  The idea is that members paint some stones in bright colours and leave them in the park for other people to find. Hopefully this will brighten up somebody’s day when they are enjoying their local park.

Lots of staff and members also took part in the Kilt Walk this year to raise funds for Neighbourhood Networks tec fund.  Lots of steps were walked in parks around Scotland to raise money and push us to challenge ourselves around the number of steps we could walk. This gave everyone something positive to focus on and spend more time in the parks we love.

Everyone’s love of parks is here to stay so lets make the most of how we use the space and the fun everyone has been having. The pictures below speak for themselves and there have been some great memories made and many more to come. We are grateful for the part parks have played over the last year so let’s do everything we can to make the most of them and keep them tidy.

#loveparksweek