Welcome to the website of the Friends of Lake Meadows Billericay
An independent local charity, with volunteers working in partnership with Basildon Borough Council, Billericay Town Council for the benefit of the Billericay community. We help to care for the park, to promote its benefits, improve its facilities and encourage conservation and wildlife.
The winners of the 2021 Photographic Competition
The Committee of the Friends of Lake Meadows congratulate the winners.
The judges decided to split the entries into two sections,
the first covering "Nature" entries and the second "General Park" entries.
1st Prize " General Park""Autumn"
by Abigail Clapton
1st Prize "Nature"
"Out of the Blue"
by Nigel Harris
.
You can see the other prize winners and a selection of Finalists
1st Prize Junior Section
"Spideman was here"
by Finley Walker
You may have seen the display of purple crocuses on the bank backing onto the Bowling green. The Rotary Club of Billericay Town provided and planted the bulbs with a little help of FoLM gardeners.
In addition to enhancing your visit to the Park, the Rotary Club is furthering the “Purple4Polio” initiative of UK Rotary Clubs.The world is close to eradicating this terrible disease, more information on the Polio Global Eradication Initiative can be found at https://polioeradication.org For every pound that the Rotary Clubs raise it will be matched by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. .Although the crocuses will be making a show for only a limited time this year, hopefully they will create an even better display in future years.
In addition to enhancing your visit to the Park, the Rotary Club is furthering the “Purple4Polio” initiative of UK Rotary Clubs.The world is close to eradicating this terrible disease, more information on the Polio Global Eradication Initiative can be found at https://polioeradication.org For every pound that the Rotary Clubs raise it will be matched by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. .Although the crocuses will be making a show for only a limited time this year, hopefully they will create an even better display in future years.Early Morning Bird Walk and Talk
A guided early morning walk & talk is planned for Sunday May 15th at 7am when Neil Sumner, a local wildlife expert, will help us to identify birds in the park.
A bird survey has been carried out over the past few years and nearly 70 species have been identified in the Park.I wonder how many we will see or hear as we walk around.
Out of necessity numbers have to be restricted, those places now taken
The rhododendron walk
Be ready to admire nature's colou palate as you take the Rhododendron Walk. The wintre flowering camelia has been providing a show over the last few weeks For the next few weeks we will Ithe primulas, daffodils,and cherry trees bloom together with the display of rhododendrons and azelias.Forget-me-nots will be adding their beauty and colour as well
The Garden of the Child
Over the next few weeks the gardening volunteers will be looking to impropve the Garden of the Child and to try and repair the damage caused during the period lockdown. The Garden will be locked for a number of weeks while this work is completedThe Gardening Volunteers
The Friends of Lake Meadows volunteer gardeners started their Tuesday mornings sessions again in eartly February and trying to get the various beds in order before the major growth spurt which happens in early Spring.
In preparation for the planned work in the Garden of the Child, some forty bags of well rotted manure have been collected from a local stable and spread in the area.
Two of our gardeners have worked on the Fern bed leading up to the Lake Ave entrance and the helibores there are a picture.
Update
on last year’s Grants.
We
received four grants or awards last year last year. A grant from the Town
Council enabled us to further enhance the Rhododendron bed and you will be able
to see the new plants blooming soon. Waitrose through their “Community Matters”
provided funds to furnish our gardeners with some new equipment and with the
gardeners starting in early February it will be well used. Essex CC through its
Safer, Greener, Healthier campaign enabled us to purchase the new bike racks by
the main entrance which we hope will be well used as the weather improves.
Finally we received a substantial award from the Co-op through their Local Community
Fund to enable us to improve the Garden of the Child.
The grasses and rockery area by the lake
The grasses have provided interest throughout the winter. They have now been trimmed & thinned and new growth is showing and will provide an attractive display in the Summer brightened by the orange California poppies.
Cycle Rack Project
Our latest project has been to provide bike racks at the main entrance.
We received funding for the stainless-steel racks from Essex C.C, through their 
campaign
campaignand the Basildon Parks Dept carried out the installation; both of whom we should like to thank..
The bike racks will encourage people to cycle to the park, with its health and eco-friendly benefits, although riding in the park itself is actually illegal under local byelaws.
Swimming Pool in Lake Meadows
The Pool is run by Firststrokes and details can be found on their website
Commemorative Oak Tree
As part of Billericay’s commemoration of the 400th anniversary of the sailing of the Mayflower in 1620, the Friends of Lake Meadows have planted an English oak (Quercus Robur), which we hope will be in its prime at the 500th anniversary. Luckily we were able to complete its planting on our last group day for our volunteers before the stand down.
Monthly Working Party
Please note that we have had to cancel working parties until firther notice
Lake Meadows has won the award for the "Best Park 2019" in the East of England.
A big thank you to Park Users who took the trouble to vote for Lake Meadows as thier favourite park.
The Fields-in-Trust charity organised the competition as part of its remit to to ensure the importance of parks and green spaces in the UK is recognised. Over 38,000 people showed how they beleive this, by voting in the competition
Event Videos
Check out these short videos
these videos have been kindly made for us by
Funeralcare,who kindly sponsor our newsletter printing, inform us that they are holding Bereavement Meetings on the 1st Wednesday of each month at their office, 30 High Street. For more information call 01277 658007