Boscombe precinct receives a spring clean


Boscombe precinct is being treated to a full spring clean as part of the ongoing improvements to regenerate the area.

Bournemouth’s Street Services team are busy tidying shrubbery, pressure washing street furniture, bins, planters and removing stickers and minor graffiti in order to make the precinct a more safe and pleasant place to visit.

The Boscombe fountain has now been removed and the Council received 170 responses to a recent poll with almost two thirds of residents suggesting the area be replaced with paving which has now been carried out.

Police News


Police Neighbourhood Information Centre, The Sovereign Centre,  Boscombe Every Thursday, 2.30pm - 3.30pm & Every Saturday, 2.30 pm - 3.30 pm
Street Corner Meetings
Austin Close
8 April 2010, 1.00pm
Glen Road
14 April 2010, 7.00 pm
Wharncliffe Road
19 May 2010, 7.00pm
St Clement's Road
21 July 2010, 7.00pm

Nestle free easter There are lots of reasons not to buy Nestle products , and there has been a lot of coverage about their use of palm oil this week. I Boycott nestle because of their track record on Baby Milk http://www.babymilkaction.org/

Earth Hour is today (Sat), at 8.30pm Turn off your lights! During Earth Hour we'd love you to send us your photos to our Flickr group. You could tweet what you're up to using the #earthhour tag or upload your video to YouTube. So please, tell us all about your Earth Hour. http://earthhour.wwf.org.uk/

Free Seeds! get the garden going! It’s that time of year ! Send off for your free Dig In pack, containing seeds for five easy-to-grow veg varieties, full instructions and stickers. Apply for seeds

Boscombe wins top regeneration award Boscombe is celebrating its second national award in one week.  “Some see that as a risk, I saw it as an opportunity to make a real difference to an area that I love“ Mark Cribb, Urban Reef BBC

BOSCOMBE BONANZA!
Newly restored Dorset pier gets prestigious award National Piers Society

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During November 2009, Bournemouth Borough Council sent out a survey to over 1000 households surrounding Knyveton and Spencer Gardens. From this we received just over 200 responses, of these responses 23% of people had children under the age of 18.
The recent loss of the Green Flag award for the park prompted us to ask you, the residents, how you use Knyveton Gardens.  From your answers we found out that most visitors just walked through the gardens (86%), visited the café (57%) or visited the sensory garden (50%) while less people played tennis (16%) and bowls/petanque (10%).

We asked you about possible changes we could make to
Knyveton Gardens, the following responses were the clearest preferences were:
85% of you wanted to see a children’s play area within the gardens
74% of you would like to see the tennis courts re-surfaced and made free for use
74% of you would like to see grassy areas for informal recreation
68% of you would like a ball court (football/basketball) in place of one of the existing tennis courts.

With government funding under the national ‘Playbuilder’ project and contributions through local housing development, we can deliver the following projects in Knyveton Gardens:
- Create a small children’s play area on the site of the petanque/raised patio area by April 2011
- Replace the tennis court closest to the café with a ball court for football/basketball by April 2011
- Resurface other two tennis courts and trial free use for a year by the beginning of the 2010 tennis season
- Investigate ways to create informal grass areas within the open space

Bournemouth Parks will be holding two consultation sessions on site in March. The first of these will just be for local young people to tell us what equipment they would like to see within the new play area. The second session (Session 2) will be for the whole community to drop in and view the draft design and comment on it.
Spencer Gardens: We also asked you how you used Spencer Gardens and how you would like use to manage it. 65% of you would like to see the site managed more for wildlife and 63% would like to see more bulbs and wild flowers planted here. We will be aiming to carry out these changes over the next couple of years.

If you would like to see a copy of the consultation, then the entire document can be found online here:

http://www.bournemouth.gov.uk/Visitors/leisure_consult.asp

Play Area Consultation Dates
At Knyveton Gardens
Session 1: Young People Design Workshop
Wednesday 24th March 3pm to 5pm

Session 2: Viewing of draft design
Thursday 1
st April, 4pm to 7pm

Or you can request a copy or make any comments regarding this by using the following contact details:
Write to:
Bournemouth Parks
Queens Park Pavilion
Queens Park West Drive
Bournemouth
BH8 9BY
Email: parks@bournemouth.gov.uk
Phone: 01202 437812 (with 24 hour answer phone)

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LOVE SINGING? LOVE SOUL?
NEW POP AND SOUL CHOIR AIMS TO GET BOURNEMOUTH SINGING
 
With popularity amongst talent shows at an all time high the local community is being encouraged to demonstrate its singing talents in the newest choir to hit town.  Home to the internationally renowned Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, and Bournemouth International Centre which hosts chart topping performers, Bournemouth is the perfect location to instigate the second Love Soul Choir on the South Coast. The Love Soul Choir is seeking talent in the area and is calling upon everyone with a voice and love of soul and pop music to go online at www.lovesoulchoir.com and register for an audition. 
 
The uplifting music of the Southampton based 65 strong Love Soul Choir is currently only heard at venues in and around Southampton, and choir Directors Steve Giles and Jack White are seeking talented new singers across the region to establish their second choir here in Bournemouth.
 
Soul sounds throughout the last few decades combined with contemporary hits makes the new choir an attractive alternative to the traditional choir and a welcome proposition for local people seeking an outlet for their voice. The Southampton based Love Soul Choir was an overnight success when it started its run of performances last year and it hopes its new Bournemouth choir will enjoy the same recognition and give dedicated singers and performers a vehicle for their talent.
 
Love Soul Choir is the first choir of its kind to correctly balance harmonies, performance, tuition and socialising to give the quickest route to developing its members as vocalists and  get them singing.  It is the brainchild of two musical friends who are keen to get the Bournemouth community singing:
 
“It’s the feeling one gets from contributing to a song with others – there’s a real sense of community within the group and there is nothing like a bit of Stevie Wonder to get those endorphins jumping around.  Both Jack and I are experienced voice coaches and singers and are convinced there will be hidden talent here in Bournemouth which we hope to develop through Love Soul Choir.” said Steve.  “We are seeking talented singers who will give us their dedication at weekly rehearsals every Tuesday evening from April onwards at Bournemouth University” he said.

 
Auditions for the new choir will be taking place on March 28th at the Royal Bath Hotel in Bournemouth and anyone interested in joining the choir should apply through the choir’s website at www.lovesoulchoir.com.
 
series of seven innovative sculpture designs that will be installed in Sea Road to form Boscombe’s first arts trail (subject to planning permission) have been revealed.

The designs created by Dorset artist Andy Kirkby and chosen by a panel of arts professionals, local people and ward councillor Lisa Northover, reflect the ideas put forward by local residents of Sea Road and Undercliff Road, and Andy Kirkby’s own distinctive approach to public art.

All seven sculptures, many of which will have a blue ‘glow’ at night, are visually linked through colour, a common gilded rope feature and materials including bronze, copper and cast iron. The gilded rope feature is intended to act as a visual lure to lead people towards the next sculpture and onwards up (or down) Sea Road. A marine theme is evident in many of the sculptures with objects and marine life such as a diving helmet, a boat and a sunfish represented.

Councillor Anne Filer, Cabinet Member for Leisure, said: “This is an exciting project which has really engaged the local community. The visually stunning, innovative sculptures reflect the local environment of Boscombe, its history and its future, in the year that Bournemouth celebrates its bicentenary. The trail will bring a unique focus for the area, and will create a great attraction for both residents and visitors.”

Local resident Linda Sheppard who lives directly outside the proposed site of the Sunfish artwork said: “I attended the presentation outlining all the designs and was able to actually meet the artist and understand the concept to link the Boscombe shopping precinct to the sea front. I love every one of the fun designs and I think they will inspire and entertain passers by.”

Boscombe retailer Mark Cribb of Urban Beach added:

The new arts trail is a fantastic way of linking the beautiful recent improvements on the seafront with the high street and traditional Victorian arcades in Boscombe town centre. It’s really exciting to see the residents of Boscombe walking around with heads held high and a new sense of pride in their town and community. The negative stigma of recent years in Boscombe really is becoming consigned to history and the future looks very bright indeed. The street art is just another little part of the jigsaw of improvements and redevelopment that really is turning Boscombe from a thorn to a crown in the district of Bournemouth.

The £74,000 arts trail, funded by the Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment (CABE) as part of the Council’s cultural regeneration project for Boscombe, is set to be fully completed by 30 September with four of the seven sculptures installed before 23 July, subject to planning permission. A planning application has now been submitted for consideration.
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Three pairs of cast aluminium wings appear to pull gilt rope from the ground. The wings will be colour coated by a heavy anodized method.
A single upilight will illuminate the feature from below.


Limed oak dugout boat filled with a sea blue coloured resin visible from above and also through a porthole on the underside of the oak form. A single up-light will illuminate the blue resin to a soft glow. Forged copper straps will be bonded to six oars.

A copper diver helmet will morph into tentacle like rope twists.  At the foot of the sculpture a large stone will act as a perch seat. The helmet will have an internal light fitting omitting a soft blue glow. 


A hardwood upright tablet in seasoned oak, copper clad on one side with etched engravings of local history, including the story of Mary and Percy Shelley, the Boscombe whale and the Spa. A cast iron feather will be aligned to the right and a single up-light on the left side will be put in place to illuminate the interpretive text.



A two person seating feature with a resin casting that will contain a coloured mosaic, reflecting the architecture opposite. The mosaic will be up-lit providing mild colour illumination.



The Sunfish will be cast in solid bronze with a gilded rope feature being part of the casting. The Rider element will be made from cast bronze and iron.

An encapsulated resin dome with glass Tiffany style lampshade insertions to resemble Jellyfish. The resin dome will be tinted with blue and turquoise pigment. Details of the other sculptures to be discovered along the trail will be etched onto a table surrounding the dome. Six rope twists in solid copper emerge from the ground to cage the dome. The sculpture will be up-lit directly beneath the table to produce a soft sea colour glow at night.

About Andy Kirkby
Andy Kirkby has worked as a sculptor on public realm projects for over 25 years using a variety of materials.  Recent local commissions include the ‘Garden in the forest’ sculpture for Bishop of Winchester school and 'Orrery' a large hand cranked automata, Puddletown.

About the Project Panel
The project panel is made up of arts professionals and local people including public art consultant Nicky Whittenham, Ward Councillor Lisa Northover, local resident and member of the Sea Change Boscombe community stakeholders group Steve Kent, the Council's Arts Development Officer Adam Gent and the Course Leader from the Arts University College at Bournemouth Mike Griffiths.

About the Boscombe Sea Change project
The Boscombe Sea Change project is a £455,000 scheme funded by CABE incorporating:

  • The UK’s first purpose-designed accessible beach facilities, west of Boscombe Pier
  • Creative mood lighting within Boscombe Precinct
  • A Sea Road arts trail linking the pier with the precinct
  • A visitor interpretation and new public seating within Boscombe Pier Approach.
Wordle: Lisa's Boscombe Blog

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New cycle routes, zebra crossings and improved walking routes, including lighting to Woodland Walk, are just a number of improvements to be rolled out across Boscombe.

Work will begin next week (Monday 8 March) on the ‘Links to Schools’ programme aimed at providing safer routes for children to walk and cycle to school.  Once complete the scheme will provide better walking and cycling routes for anyone travelling across Boscombe whether to work, school, shops, King's Park and the seafront.

Running from the seafront to Littledown Valley, via Kings Park and Woodland Walk the project is anticipated to be complete in June 2010 and will see:

• New signal controlled cycle/pedestrian crossing at Christchurch Road
• New zebra crossings at the Beechwood Avenue/Wentworth Avenue junction, at Boscombe Overcliffe Drive at its junction with Woodland  Walk, and at Harewood Avenue.
• New and improved lighting throughout Woodland Walk.

Further works will begin in April 2010 to provide new cycle and walking routes from Ashley Road through Kings Park to Harewood Avenueand through Littledown Valley opposite Porchester and Avonbourne Schools.

Working in partnership with Cycling England the Council match funded the £300K grant, funded by Cycling England and awarded last year by Sustrans - the sustainable transport charity.  Sustrans is working with local authorities across England, to connect communities to their schools, colleges and wider networks of routes, including the National Cycle Network.   The work in Boscombe is part of this programme.

Councillor Robert Lawton, Cabinet Member for Environment & Transport; "I am delighted that together with Cycling England we are able to make these improvements which will enhance the existing work already underway in regenerating Boscombe as a whole.  Apart from the safety aspects of the Links to School programme, there are of course other direct benefits to the local community.  Walking and cycling also provide everyday exercise, encouraging children and residents to be more active and healthy.  Once complete this project will make a big improvement to travelling in and around Boscombe."


International Womens Day Saturday 6th March 1-5pm Kings Pk School Ashley Rd Boscombe http://bit.ly/9QnN5U

Free gardening fitness event at the AECC (13-15 Parkwood Road, Bournemouth, BH5 2DF) this Saturday (6th March) 11am – 3pm called SPRING INTO SPRING
We are delighted to announce that award-winning garden designer Janine Pattison will be delivering a talk at our event between 1:15pm – 2:15pm
http://www.aecc.ac.uk/cms/site/news/janine-pattison-to-attend-spring-into-spring.aspx Other highlights of the event include a free goodie bag for all visitors*, free 15 minute massage sessions, plant sales from The Oaks Garden Centre, Merley, exercise sessions, live ergonomic planting demonstrations, refreshments and book sales. Street parking is available within close proximity of the AECC and on Boscombe Overcliff.    

 Bournemouth Creatives meeting On the 17th March Andy Kirkby will be coming to talk to us about sculpture and the Sea Road project he has been commissioned for. Andy works in many materials creating everything from single pieces of varying scale up to automata - so come along and immerse yourself in the world of 3D artwork for an evening. The meeting will start at 6.30pm and it's £5 to get in or £3 concessions (this includes a free hot or soft drink). There will be plenty time for networking/socialising, so bring cards/flyers if you have them. The Winchester put on tasty food for us for £5 too, so no need to rush home for dinner first. Please let Elanor know if you wish to announce something to the group - an event or just to introduce yourself.


There’s rock, soul and more from Katy Tizzard singing live at Reef Encounter this Friday night. From 8pm. Admission Free. Book a table or booth on 01202 280656 or just come and listen at the bar.
Sowing bluebells and planting trees Following a successful funding application, we can now sow bluebells in the woods and plant some trees. Come along, with coffee and snacks on Sunday 7th March from 10am. We will be on the open ground in Littledown Common just past the woods. Nearest road is Harewood Ave.http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=347863179531
I have not seen the report on the surf reef so I am in the dark about the expert view!  However, I don't think we need to see it to know what local people want. Most of the surfers I have spoken to have said that it does create a wave, but it is too fast for the stand up surfers, more popular with body borders. They also say that with some adjustments the reef could be made more effective, so they are keen that the 150k is not handed over without this being done, either by ASR or a UK based company.

We wait and see. I expect I will read news of the report in the echo rather than in my role as a councillor as despite numerous requests I am never kept informed!
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