Hastings Borough Council is delighted that Alexandra Park, Hastings Country Park, and St Leonards Gardens have retained Green Flag status for another year.

The Green Flag Award scheme is managed by environmental charity Keep Britain Tidy under licence from the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities. The award recognises and rewards well-managed parks and green spaces and sets the benchmark standard for the management of green spaces across the United Kingdom and around the world.

Cllr Ali Roark, lead for Environment at Hastings Borough Council, said, “I want to say a huge thank you to everyone involved […] from the council’s Parks team to local volunteers and park users who take their litter home and report issues to us. This fantastic achievement is a testament to all your hard work and dedication.”

Keep Britain Tidy’s Green Flag Award Scheme Manager Paul Todd MBE, added, “Alexandra Park, Hastings Country Park, and St Leonards Gardens are vital green spaces for the community in Hastings, bringing people together and providing opportunities to lead healthy lifestyles. The staff and volunteers do so much to ensure that it maintains the high standards of the Green Flag Award and everyone involved should feel extremely proud of their achievement.”

A full list of Green Flag Award-winning parks and green spaces is available at keepbritaintidy.org.

It will be all-change with this year’s Garden Full of Cultural Delights with the popular event moving to a new venue for the first time. Since 2010 it has always taken place in St Leonards Gardens, but with Hastings Council in the process of selling the Lodge (the building that stands at the entrance to St Leonards Gardens and which has always provided the power for the event) it was decided to switch to a new location this year. The new venue will be Concordia Hall & Garden in Church Road, St Leonards.

If the setting will be different, the spirit of the event will be familiar to the many hundreds of people who have enjoyed it over the past 13 years. It has an international flavour in both music and food and brings together performers from across a range of different styles. This year’s performers include the Amber Leafe Band which, in their own words specialise in “world music with original twists”. Polanco will play for the first time at the event, a band which draws on Klezmer music, a lively folk style from Eastern Europe and beyond. Hastings’ own Hayley Savage will play songs of a very different kind: the alt country and folk artist has an album and a couple of EPs under her belt and packs a real punch with her vocal range.

The Boathouse Theatre Group will also make their debut at the event. The group provides an opportunity for local people with learning difficulties to shine through song, dance and drama. Marcela, a Romanian singer, will be yet another new face at the event, though stalwarts of the Garden of Delights – Gizmo – will be on hand again: the kids’ choir have sung at every event since 2010. Bringing a touch of Ceilidh to the afternoon will be Celtic Swing who have set many feet a-dancing over the years and brought the Garden of Delights to a stirring climax last year. 

Special mention must go to the Bexhill Ukrainians, who will be performing while their country is engulfed in conflict, and will bring a taste of their culture to St Leonards. Their performance will come on the back of a rapturously received appearance at the De La Warr Pavilion during Refugee Week.

In addition to the entertainment there will be refreshments and children’s activities available, as well as community stalls and a raffle.

The Garden Full of Cultural Delights is organised by the Hastings and Rother Interfaith Forum. They wish to acknowledge the support of the Magdalen and Lasher Charity, East Sussex Police and the Isabel Blackman Foundation, all of which have contributed funds to the event.

The Garden will take place on Sunday 6 August from 1-5pm in Concordia Hall and garden, Church Rd, St Leonards TN37 6HB. The event is free to enter.

These green spaces are among a record-breaking 1,970 UK parks and green spaces and 131 in thirteen other countries around the world that will today receive a prestigious Green Flag Award – the mark of a quality park or green space.

Colin Fitzgerald, lead councillor for environmental services said: “The awards recognise our parks are maintained to the highest standards in the UK.”

This year the Garden of Cultural Delights will feature music from, among others, alternative folk singer Tim Hoyte and acoustic musician Trace Walton. Celtic Swing will tempt people’s dancing feet with their Célidh sounds, while drumming crew Section 5 will bring percussion and rhythm to the gardens. Dance will be provided by the Chinese Dancers, with movement of a different kind coming from popular acrobatic troupe Acromax. Local children’s performance group Gizmo will again take to the stage to sing, for the 8th time at the event.

Food and refreshments will be available, as well as activities for children, and stalls from a wide range of community groups.

As last year, The Garden of Cultural Delights will include the Major’s picnic, with the Mayoral role now taken by Nigel Sinden. People are welcome to bring their own picnics to the gardens.

• The Garden of Cultural Delights will be held in St Leonards Gardens, Maze Hill (behind the Royal Victoria Hotel) on Sunday 12th August, from 1.00 to 5.00pm. The organisers wish to thank the Chalk Cliff Trust and Hastings Borough Council for their support. The event is free.

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Councillor Colin Fitzgerald, lead councillor for the environment said, “Our parks are fantastic places for all our residents and visitors to enjoy all year round. The council is extremely proud to again receive Green Flag awards for three outstanding parks in the town, St Leonards Gardens, Alexandra Park and Hastings Country Park. The awards recognise our parks are maintained to the highest standards in the UK. I would like to thank the dedication and hard work of all our staff and contractors who make these parks the special places they are”. Alexandra Park and St Leonards Gardens have also received the much coveted additional Green Heritage Site Accreditation for the management of the historic features.

International Green Flag Award scheme manager Paul Todd said: “We are delighted to be celebrating another record-breaking year for the Green Flag Award scheme, with more Green Flags awarded this year than last year…Each flag honours the thousands of staff and volunteers who work tirelessly to maintain the high standards demanded by the Green Flag Award. We are proud to have so many wonderful green spaces in the UK for people to enjoy, and hope that next year, we award even more flags.”

The Green Flag Awards Scheme (greenflagaward.org) is run by the environmental charity Keep Britain Tidy, under licence from the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, in partnership with Keep Scotland Beautiful, Keep Wales Tidy and Keep Northern Ireland Beautiful. Keep Britain Tidy is a leading environmental charity. It aims to inspire people to be litter-free, to waste less and to live more. It runs programmes including Eco-Schools, the Green Flag Award for parks and green spaces and the Blue Flag/ Seaside Awards for beaches. To find out more about Keep Britain Tidy, their programmes and campaigns visit www.keepbritaintidy.org.

Any green space that is accessible to the public is eligible to enter for a Green Flag Award. Awards are given on an annual basis and winners must apply each year to renew their Green Flag Award status. A Green Flag Community Award recognises quality sites managed by voluntary and community groups. Green Heritage Site accreditation is judged on the treatment of the site’s historic features and the standard of conservation.

We hope you have enjoyed reading this article. The future of our volunteer led, non-profit publication would be far more secure with the aid of a small donation. It only takes a minute and we would be very grateful.