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Home Page
Friday, 14-Jan-2022 09:24:01 GMT

Latest News
Sunday, 16-Jan-2022 23:06:04 GMT

About the Wick Country Park (WCP)
Sunday, 16-Jan-2022 23:05:59 GMT

The Friends of the Wick Country Park (FoWCP)
Saturday, 15-Jan-2022 17:57:19 GMT

The Pavilion Gardens
Sunday, 16-Jan-2022 09:42:39 GMT

Volunteering at The Wick Country Park Sunday, 16-Jan-2022 10:41:25 GMT

Events Calendar
Friday, 14-Jan-2022 09:23:52 GMT

Past Events: Reports and Photos
Sunday, 07-Nov-2021 18:02:58 GMT

Facilities at the Park
Monday, 25-Oct-2021 12:12:05 BST

Directions to the WCP
Sunday, 16-Jan-2022 10:07:52 GMT

Why not Join Us?
Sunday, 16-Jan-2022 10:08:31 GMT

Nature Notes
Sunday, 09-Jan-2022 11:36:36 GMT

The Visitors' Log
Sunday, 16-Jan-2022 10:08:35 GMT

Useful Links
Friday, 30-Apr-2021 10:31:14 BST

Contact Us
Sunday, 16-Jan-2022 09:30:56 GMT

On-Line Archive
Thursday, 23-Sep-2021 09:59:20 BST

Tour with The Ranger.
Friday, 31-Dec-2021 18:58:42 GMT

History & Development of WCP
Tuesday, 31-Dec-2019 16:29:37 GMT

Find us on Facebook

See an on-line Gallery provided by Martin Singleton

Watch the Aerial Video (provided by Keith Savill) [3 mins, 5 secs]

Watch (and listen to) the second Aerial Video (provided by Keith Savill) [3 mins, 20 secs] February 2016

This page was updated on Friday, 14-Jan-2022 09:24:01 GMT

The Friends of The Wick Country Park

Introduction

Welcome to the Home Page of our Website!

Courtesy of the links to the left, you can read all about the Park, the 'Friends' group, and find details of the events organised by the 'Friends' in collaboration with the Park Ranger. Through the 'Wick Country Park' link you will find directions and a map of the Park, and you can find notes about the history and development of the Park, the management of the Park, the children's play area, the park's plants and animals, fishing in the lake, and much, much more. Other links will take you to details about the events we organise - most of which are absolutely free - plus details about our volunteer group - The Friends of the Wick Country Park. If there is something specific you are interested in, but cannot find, please use the 'search this site' link at the top of the list of Links.

Basildon Borough Council Parks and Countryside Services

The Wick Country Park Park is owned by Basildon Borough Council and is managed by the Parks and Countryside Services Department. To report an issue concerning misuse of the Park, or to enquire about hiring facilities at the Park, please contact the Countryside Officer on 01268 533333 (option 5). Please note: the Friends group has no authority over the usage of the Park and therefore we cannot deal directly with any such requests.

How to Contact Us

If you have any comments to offer or queries to raise about the Wick Country Park, or the Friends Group, or the events held at the Park, or about this website, please click on the 'Contact Us' link to the left.

Breaking News - new Management Arrangements for the Fishing Lake

Basildon Borough Council has concluded a deal with S & A Watercraft Ltd to take over the management of four lakes that are owned by the Council, including the one at The Wick Country Park. More details of this new arrangement - including the implications for those who fish the lake - will appear on the Fishing Page on this website shortly.

New Event - Litter Pick at the WCP on Tuesday 18th January 2022: Please come and join in!

The Wickford Wombles will be carrying out a litter pick on Tuesday 18th January at 10.30am. They do an excellent job in keeping Wickford clear of litter. If you are able to help out please meet at the main entrance gate to the Wick Country Park on Tresco Way. It is suggested that you bring a pair of sturdy gloves to wear.

Welcome to the NEW Wick-ed Gardeners!!!!

After a long break the gardening sessions have started again at the Wick Country Park New arrangements, new name - welcome to the Wick-ed Gardeners! The group is currently on its usual Christmas / New Year break, but, Covid permitting, it will be restarting in January 2022. Everyone is welcome to come along and help out. For coming session dates and meeting arrangements, please visit the Latest News page, via the link to the left.

Events Programme, 2022

After suffering two years of devastation to our normal annual events programmes in both 2020 and 2021, the Committee will be meeting in January 2022 to consider a refreshed programme for the year. In addition to the difficulties caused by Covid-19, we have a chronic shortage of active supporters to plan and run our events. Unless we attract significant additional support to manage the Future Events Programme, we are likely to continue to adopt a 'low profile' well into 2022. If you have enjoyed our past events, or have ideas for future different events, PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE do volunteer to help to make them happen! Please visit the Volunteering page to read about ways in which you can become involved with the Friends' group, or contact us for more insight into what would be involved.

Two ventures that have already made it onto our provisional Programme: the Monthly Nature Walks, led by Martin Singleton, and the remodelled Wick-ed Gardeners. To track evolving details, please keep an eye on the Events Calendar link to the left, or see our Facebook page, or see the latest Skylarks Newsletter.

Latest News......[updated on Sunday, 16-Jan-2022 23:06:04 GMT ]

Please click on the link to the left. Newly posted: on the Nature Notes page - Martin's Annual Report of Sightings at the Park, 2021

Register to receive our Newsletter

Some great news!!!! There will be no charge to register your email address with the membership secretary, so that you can be kept up-to-date about events and other developments at the Park, through our regular newsletter called Skylarks, as well as the occasional e-mail. In normal times, Skylarks is published quarterly, but while Coronavirus restrictions apply, the frequency has been reduced to twice a year. Please see our membership page for more details about registration. Back issues of Skylarks can be viewed through the 'On-Line Archive' link to the left.

Anti-Litter campaign - "Take-5"

Leaving litter on the banks of the lake, or, even worse. in the Lake, gets all Anglers a very bad reputation, and recently has been the cause of several complaints by Park visitors. Accordingly, the Angling Trust has recently (September 2020) launched a new campaign. known as the Anglers Against Litter Campaign, details of which can be found here All Anglers at the Park should follow these guidelines on every visit, please.

Past Events

Please click on the picture links below, which will take you to reports and pictures from the various events listed.

On-line support while you visit the Park

If you have a smart-phone when you visit the Park, you can now carry a map with you - please click or tap here to see the map and the accompanying notes.

General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR) - May 25th 2018

The new GDPR regulations, effective from May 25th 2018, require us to make a 'Data Policy' statement available to all of our members. Please click here to access the policy. Please see the 'Why not Join us?' link to the left for details about membership.

Litter at the Park

Most visitors to the Park do as we all would hope they would do - take any rubbish or recycling generated while visiting the Park back home with them and to dispose of properly. It is a tiny minority of extremely thoughtless and lazy individuals who spoil the Park for everyone else.

From time-to-time there is an organised 'litter blitz', as a result of which bags and bags of rubbish are often collected. One local resident, out of the kindness of her heart, often fills a bag in her own time. Earlier in 2019, the Wickford Wombles had a cleaning session. But none of these very generouas donations of time would be necessary if that tiny minority of thoughtless visitors could learn to be more caring about the Park! We would like to thank those individuals who generously give their time to clear up after others, often selflessly braving adverse weather. The net effect is a beautiful and relaxing environment that can be enjoyed by all visitors - humans, other mammals, birds, insects, etc.

These pictures show the 'proceeds' of a major blitz held in February 2018: bottles in the lake, rubbish thrown in the bushes - and even a discarded fishing reel!



Here are our youngest - and also less young - helpers with some of the bags of collected rubbish.

The aerial video of the Park!

In February 2016, Keith Savill, having got the appropriate permissions, kindly took a second video of the Park. Please see the link in the list to the left!

The On-line Archive

Please visit the the on-line archive, through which all the editions from 1 to current of our Skylarks Newsletter can be viewed. Have a browse through them for a fascinating insight into the Friends' perspective as to what has been happening at the Wick Country Park since 2002! And if you would like to go even further back in time, then please note that the on-line archive, also includes the complete set of eight editions of The Wick Country Park News. These newsletters, which were published by the Countryside Division of Basildon Council, chart the progress of the development of the Park, spanning the years 2000 to 2005. Editions 1, 2, 3 and 5 all include a map of what it was thought the Park would look eventually like when the work was finished. The Park today is fairly close to the vision first presented in 2000, the main divergence being that the building originally described as the "Education and Information Building" is usually referred to by its shorthand name - The Pavilion - and it is now leased to a Commercial Pre-School Nursery.