By Emily Barker

The Friends of Queens Park met for its annual wild garden clean-up with community volunteers to work together and maintain conservation areas in the park.

People of all ages joined with park ranger Lindsay Cattenach on Sunday, November 24 to clear brambles and scrub.

Chris Lowe, a member of the locally elected Friends of Queens Park group, said: “It’s an opportunity for people to meet up to have a cup of tea and a social.

“It’s really important to do the clear-up and like everything else in the park there’s a huge amount to do.”

Diminishing resources and recession have dwindled funding for paid staff to cultivate the park and volunteers have stepped in to help maintain the park for the community.

Miss Cattenach, who has been ranger at Queens Park since 2002, said: “My job is about enabling the local community to be involved in their local green spaces.

“What we have here is a part of the park that we let go wild most of the time, but we come in and battle the brambles and make sure that it keeps its diversity.”

The garden, created in 1987, has attracted a variety of wildlife and plants including hazel and sweet chestnut trees, finches, and a set of badgers that moved in in 2005.

You can contact the Friends of Queens Park on its website: www.friendsofqueensparkbrighton.net.

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