nature trail
creation​​​​​
We have placed plaques that each feature a species of UK wildlife, chosen by the local community, all around The UP Garden.
You can:
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scan the QR code to find out more about that species
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bring some paper and a fat crayon (or even better, plain newsprint and a graphite pencil) to take a rubbing
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draw an art scene incorporating the rubbing
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draw the species freehand (no rubbing!)
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hunt for all 16
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take the current online trail, below!
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Autumn 2023
In Autumn 2023, we applied to People Powered Places, a fund created by the London Borough of Newham. After being shortlisted, we were required to campaign for votes in person and online.
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December 2023
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Thanks to public support, we won funding at the end of 2023! We were the highest placed non-profit community group that was not a registered charity, church or school.
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February 2024
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We researched suppliers of rubbing plaques and costings, and shortlisted 25 species that we considered best represented urban wildlife ensuring a spread of birds, invertebrates and plants. We held a community consultation to co-design the nature trail by asking the public to vote on their top 16 species, which were done in-person at one of our event days, and an online survey for anyone who could not make it on the day.
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We also researched suppliers of QR tags and costings, and how the rubbing plaques could be affixed to our existing furniture and planters.
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March 2024
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We continued troubleshooting how to ensure the plaques would be noticeable but not protrude dangerously, as well as how to angle them to make the rubbings easier. This informed the final design, and we proceeded to purchase the rubbing plaques and QR tags.
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April 2024
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In preparation, angled posts were affixed to some of our furniture. We elected to have a range of heights (but none higher than a wheelchair user could reach) to encourage exploring around The UP Garden. Some of the posts were painted to help them blend in with the furniture they were affixed to, and then the plaques and QR tags were installed on them.
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We held another in-person and online co-designing consultation for the community to vote on what types of information they would like to know about each species.
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May 2024
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Taking into account the vote, we researched and collated information about each species on the plaques, then designed educational webpages which the QR tags point to.
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We unveiled our nature trail at our Springtide event, and saw it being enjoyed by many members of the public and at all of our events since.
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We are hugely thankful to the volunteers who between them donated more than 45 hours to the nature trail project, the businesses who discounted services, the London Borough of Newham for funding the transformation, and everyone else who supported this project. We hope our community enjoys the nature trail for a long time to come!​
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