On the weekend of 22/23 July 2023 the Bolton Festival took place and this News item should really have been produced immediately afterwards – but somehow other things kept cropping up …. but we didn’t want to leave 2023 behind without recording the event.
Below is a press release about the festival:
The Bolton Green Umbrella Festival is a weekend of open community gardens, allotments and green spaces across Bolton on 22nd and 23rd July, 2023.
BGU have created an online map showing locations and descriptions of all the participating sites. These details have been provided to us by the volunteer group or organisation involved. There are also details of any volunteer guides, activities, or refreshments being made available.
Bolton Green Umbrella Festival Map – Google My Maps
Some sites on the map will not have anyone in attendance but they are included so that the map gives as full a picture as possible of the wealth of wonderful green spaces all across our town, whether this be community gardens, parks or country parks and nature reserves. This documentation of public spaces is very much a work-in-progress. Please let us know of any other areas which you feel should be included.Also included are nature trails and health walks.
It is hoped that this celebration of green spaces will bring Bolton residents into places they may not even have been aware of, to experience the benefits of the outdoors on physical health and mental wellbeing, and to enhance community cohesion and involvement.
It was a huge amount of work, especially since there were just two of us organising everything!
We produced a paper version of the map and had 500 copies printed, which we distributed with the posters to libraries, UCAN centres, and a number of garden centres. Posters and leaflets were also emailed to Bolton councillors, all 120 member groups of BGU, Bolton at Home, and various other large organisations.
The festival was promoted on Bolton Council’s website with a link to the map. We promoted heavily on Facebook and asked for these posts to be shared as much as possible, which we know they were.
In addition, we gave interviews on Bolton FM, Radio Manchester, and an article was published in the Bolton News
Unfortunately – the weather was truly appalling for that weekend! But most groups went ahead with their event and some intrepid visitors arrived, and we still got a lot of positive feedback. And we have the on-line map as a lasting reminder of the fantastic green spaces and wonderful volunteers in Bolton!
