With our generous donors' support via the Big Give Green Match Fund in 2021, Your Park Bristol and Bath funded 13 local community and volunteer groups through our Love Your Park Community Fund. This #VolunteersWeek we're shining the light on one of these Groups, the Dame Emily Park Project.

Dame Emily Park is a hidden oasis in Bedminster, Bristol, which offers a well-used skate park, play area and community garden.

We provided a small grant to My Wild Dame Emily Park, a volunteer-led project, for free forest school sessions for over 100 two to eight year old children, their parents and carers.

They enjoyed making a bug hotel and wildlife corridor to make the park more wildlife friendly, encourage people to use green spaces and meet new friends. The project also enabled children and parents to learn about the environment and sustainability in nature, and the importance of caring for our green spaces.

Several families lived in high rise flats or homes without a garden. Families commented what an important experience the sessions were for their children.

"I get to observe my child during the structured session...I love seeing her listening and learning and I learn from it myself."

As a result, Dame Emily's dedicated volunteers noticed people feeling a sense of belonging. They said:

"Every single person is important to our park… it’s wonderful that Your Park is supporting volunteer groups."

Find out more about how we help volunteers and groups here. You can support our work so we can help more groups like Dame Emily Park Project too.