We are very pleased to announce our 9th annual Lantern Parade, the first one was held on 15th December 2013. This year we are grateful to have received partial funding from Leeds Inspired, part of Leeds City Council.
Leeds Inspired was founded in 2012 and is part of the city’s cultural programme that supports high quality, accessible cultural experiences for Leeds’ residents .
They keep a ‘What’s On’ events website. www.leedsinspired.co.uk
Christmas will soon be here. Here are the events FOPP is holding or involved in. More on our ever popular Lantern Parade posted soon.
The Advent Service on the 27th November is the St Oswald’s evening service for the first Sunday in Advent.
Our 2022 community Lantern Parade is on Sunday 11th December, 3.45pm in the Park for a prompt 4pm start, parading down to Guiseley Town Cross for carols with Guiseley Brass Band.
As normal, the Parade will feature a number of large Guiseley Landmark Lanterns to light the way. If you’d like to carry one of this years lanterns, especially if you have done it before, we’d like to hear from you. .
There is only one lantern that is suitable for children to carry.
The Parade will have a rousing beat with a troop of drummers. This year, we have a new lead drummer, and are looking for other drummers to join in – you will need your own drum.
There will be a rehearsal on Monday 21st November, 7-8pm at The Potting Shed.
If you’d like to join in, please let us know on email parkinsonspark@gmail.com.
We first put up our Remembrance Poppy Display during the 2020 November Lockdown, when it looked like Remembrance events would not be allowed. We asked people to put a poppy on the netting at the Farm Gate so we could all remember in the traditional manner. An historic event in its own right !!
This year, we’ve taken all the donated poppies from the last two years and repurposed them in a new 2022 centenary display. This year we especially remember that it is 100 years since the the Guiseley Branch of the Royal British Legion was formed after a meeting at the Town Hall on 17th November 1922 with the aim of providing support to ex servicemen and women and their families.
Friends of Parkinson’s Park would like to thank everyone who came to Apple Day and helped produce the juice. Such a productive team – we must have produced over 10 gallons.
Hope you all enjoy it; if you took some home it needs to be used within 3-4 days, or frozen for later use. Many thanks to Chris Parapia and Jennifer Kirkby for the delicious apple cakes.
Every apple was used, and the waste pulp has now been put around the apple trees, it will mix with the falling leaves to form a mulch and feed the trees. That in turn will help with the mycorrhizal growth – beneficial fungi for good root growth. 
Thank you as well to all those who planted daffodils, or who took bulbs to do so later – around 450 in all. They need to be planted by mid November, in a 4 inch deep hole, pointy end upwards. Then we can look forward to a joyful, spirit lifting display next spring.
On Sunday, we are celebrating Autumn’s bounty and planting in hope for a beautiful Springtime display.
Bring along your garden and windfall apples for juicing and collect some daffodil bulbs for planting around the Park, including the approaches along Kelcliffe Lane, Oxford Avenue, Greenshaw.
Apples juicing is a good way to ensure that apples are put to good use, and not wasted. They need to be in a reasonable condition, ie not rotting, and it would be helpful if you can wash them before you bring them. They are cut up and crushed for juice that lasts 3 – 4 days if left in a fridge, longer if frozen. (Bring a bottle/jug to put it in.) We are supported in this by Urban Harvest.
GATHER UP YOUR GARDEN APPLES AND COME ALONG
Every year FOPP hires the apple juicing kit from Urban Harvest for local people to make use of all those unwanted apple crops that would otherwise go to waste. (You may have seen Monty Don doing it on last week’s Gardener’s World.)
This year there has been a bumper apple crop, so if you have run out of apple baking ideas, bring them along to our Apple Day, help make some juice and take some home- this can be kept in a fridge for 3-4 days or frozen.
All apples will be mixed together to create a blend and the juice shared out – bring a plastic container if you’d like some. It would be helpful if you can wash the apples before your bring them.
We’ll also have some apple recipes to try
There are still apples around the Park to gather up. So we’ll be sending out foragers to gather those.
If it has rained make sure you have sturdy footwear, and children must be accompanied by an adult. Clean hands are also vital.
Like so many across our Nation we mourn the passing of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II; she had a unique and simple power to make us happy. That is why we loved her. As public figures come and go she has been the constant in the lives of many of us, we have never known anything else – singing God Save the King instead will seem very strange.
The Friends of Parkinson’s Park are now keen to fulfil one of the Queen’s Jubilee wishes for there to be a Green Canopy planted in her name. We started with the dedication of the Jubilee Tree in June and at the start of December we will be planting more trees along Jubilee Walk, and trees in the Orchard with the help of local uniform groups and residents.
In June we also commissioned a special ‘Green Canopy’ story for the Jubilee Tree and that will be made available in booklet form later in the Autumn, as our tribute to the Queen and a record of this historic time.
We now enter a period of national mourning and reflection, and so we’ve used the Queen’s favourite flower, Lily of the Valley, as our background.
Thank you for all your votes in Fields In Trust’s national vote to find the favourite Parks and Green Spaces in the UK.
Parkinson’s Park achieved ‘Local Favourite’ status in Yorkshire reflecting the love shown for these parks by their local communities
The UK’s overall favourite Park was Penrhos Coastal Park, in Holyhead on the Isle of Anglesey.
Blackpool’s Stanley Park is England’s favourite Park.
Full details of the UK’s Favourite Park’s can be found here
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We are delighted that Parkinson’s Park has been nominated for Fields in Trust UK’s Favourite Parks 2022! This is a Nationwide public vote to find the Parks and Green Spaces that have made a valuable contribution to their local community whilst acting as a sanctuary over the past few years.
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Friends of Parkinson's Park CIC 
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