Friends of Park Wood
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GET OUT MORE DONATION

18/2/2015

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Get Out More is a social enterprise running outdoor programmes to help people engage with nature to feel better about themselves in mind and body.  As a social enterprise they reinvest any profit they make back into the communities in which they work.  Last year they made a small profit which they have used to provide some free outdoor activities in Keighley. And with the small amount of money left they would like to use it to support conservation or other work in the woods which they are lucky enough to use.  Get Out More have enjoyed visiting Park Wood a few times with 2 local groups and they have decided to make a donation of £100 to Friends of Park Wood.

They are also making donations to Friends of St Ives and Friends of Northcliffe Woods (they'd like to donate to Middleton Woods in Ilkley, but sadly it doesn't seem to have any Friends!)

Friends of Park Wood fully support the aims of Get Out More.  We are heartened when as a social enterprise 'you put your money where your mouth is' and re-invest in the local community. 

It is impossible to say just yet what the money will be spent on but we have a number of projects lined-up and we predict it will be spent on one of these priorities:

  • Dry stone wall repair (dry stone wall is a fantastic habitat for small birds, invertebrates and plants; repairing it is also a clear statement that the wood is cared for).
  • Glade creation (allowing light in by felling a few dominant trees and allowing them to decay; thus providing the energy and nutrients for a range of new species
  • Pond creation (increasing the biodiversity value of the whole woodland by providing standing water essential for some invertebrate species)
  • Signage (for information and again as a statement that the wood is valued)
  • Regular work parties and social events (we will always need replacement tools and to take time out to enjoy the wood ourselves!)

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PARK WOOD IN 1963

15/2/2015

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PARK WOOD TRAIL & PARKWOOD FIRST SCHOOL

12/2/2015

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Local resident, Barbara, shared this with us ...

I was a teacher at Parkwood First School for 14 years. With the help of a colleague and the children I devised the Parkwood Trail which Bradford Countyside Service published as a leaflet. I still have some of these leaflets. We won a prize from SCOPSCA for the Trail and bought lots of bulbs which we planted at the school. I have many happy memories of working at the school and in the wood.
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MEMORIES FROM DOWN UNDER

11/2/2015

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Bill contacted us about his memories of Park Wood...

"I have just read the article about you in Keighley News online and wondered if I can help out with a few thoughts. I have lived down under in Australia first and now New Zealand, for over 60 years and over recent years I wrote my memoirs of living in Keighley, Cross Roads and Haworth as a boy. 

We lived in Alpha Street, Parkwood for two years from 1945-1947 and in my memoirs I have a few pages about Parkwood, the wood, the quarry, the path to Thwaites Brow, the games we played, the boys and girls I went Parkwood School with and who became my friends. If this is the kind of thing you are looking for just let me know and I can email a few pages to you. I also have a photo of a May Queen group at St Pauls Church taken in 1946 I think."


Here are the excerpts from Bill's memoirs ...

"I didn't finish at Lees school because at the age of 9 in 1945, we moved to Parkwood in Keighley, to 1 Alpha Street, which was a bigger house and we lived there for exactly 2 years. This opened another chapter in my life.  As children you were never told the real reasons for adult decision making, you just went along and accepted what was happening, and you don't know or worry about owning a house or renting, you just lived there.

The shift to Parkwood was a real move out of my comfort zone.  New home, new area to explore, new kids to meet.  It was the summer holidays when we shifted and I was looking forward to it.  Mam had painted such a good picture for us about a park being just across the street and beyond that a wood to explore, and she was right it was a great play area for me.  I was always tall for my age and it was just as well as it was a tougher area and I was the new kid but I really didn't get picked on too much and when I did I was able to fight back so not too many tried it on. 

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PLAYING IN PARK WOOD & PROGGING

9/2/2015

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Here are some memories shared by Keith, a local Keighley resident ...

"I was brought up on Parkwood Street in the 1950's and early 1960's. My parents ran a shop at the top of Thorn Street. My friends & I used to play in and around the woods. We used to sledge down from the top of the woods(where the houses are now but which were just farmer's fields then). We came down the cobbled path, across the muck road at the top (Kendal Street) and quite often down Dundas Street (or one of those streets), across Parkwood Street (in the days before traffic) and down the street opposite (no longer there), before coming to rest. It was a long walk back up.

In those days there were no trees below the quarry; the wood stopped at almost the top of the quarry. We were able to sledge down the hill at the side of the quarry and come to rest in the play area where the swings are.

We went 'progging' in the Wood. Something no doubt frowned upon now, but which gave us large bonfires.

As I got older I played cricket at Long Lee Cricket Club and we cricketers from Parkwood Street used to walk up through the woods on the cobbled path to play cricket and then walk back down again.
I remember the workers from Dean, Smith & Grace and other firms using the footpath to walk to and from work daily.

I always seem to remember the wood as being very open. There was always room to play our games in there.

My mother lived at Parkwood Top Farm when she was young. She used to walk down the side of the wood where the flats are now on her way to work. There were pens down there where the workers kept hens, pigs, ducks, etc.

I remember some of my friends in their early teens camping in the woods in summer (that was never my idea of a bit of fun!)."
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