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 mis-use 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

WASTE FOOD DEPOSITED AT THE PARK

A Park user has written to us thus:

"I would like to air my concern after taking my dog for a walk today.

Whilst on the walk we came across at least four piles of square cut pieces of bread. This is easily accessible for dogs to get at. I checked the pieces as this is the sort of thing people do to hide poison or dangerous foreign objects.

Fortunately I couldn't find anything but people should not be dumping food around the park like this.

Maybe a notice should be put up around the walk warning people not to deposit bread or any other food type."

This matter has been drawn to the attention of the Parks and Countryside Services Department of Basildon Borough Council. We thank the correspondent for alerting us to this issue, which we agree is of concern. It is difficult to tell whether it was dumped there by someone with malicious intent, or perhaps by someone who over-stocked on bread during the supermarket panic-buying sprees, and as a result found themselves with a lot of stale bread to dispose of and thought they would be 'helpful' by leaving it in the Park for the wildlife to enjoy. Either way it is not acceptable behaviour.

CORONAVIRUS

Before visiting the Wick Country Park, please check the latest Borough-wide advice promulgated by Basildon Council, which you can find here.

The Wick Country Park remains open to visitors - but under the national instructions as revised on May 10th 2020, only for the purpose of daily exercise - specifically running, jogging, and walking (including dog walking), or socialising with members of your own household - i.e. live under the same roof as yourself. You can also meet with one other person, including relatives who do not live under your roof, so long as you adhere to the requirement to maintain a minimum distance of 2 metres between you. Do take heed of government advice to 'socially distance' yourself from other users - keep at least 2 metres apart - and please understand that other Park users are not being rude if they appear to be avoiding you: they are simply abiding by the rules! Please remember that the rules do not permit gatherings of more than two people, except for close family groups living under the same roof.

We have now faced our first casualties of the Coronavirus pandemic:

the Skylarks 3K Race around the park scheduled for April 15th had to be cancelled. At present, the July event looks to be in doubt as well.
the Birdsong Walk scheduled for April 26th was also cancelled and sadly cannot be re-arranged for 2020. Our current expectations are that it will be held on a similar date in 2021. Please see what would have been happening.
Though there remains a lot to do, the Wick Weeders Sessions cannot be construed as a legitimate reason to leave home under the government's Coronavirus Rules that were announced on March 23rd 2020, and therefore all Wick Weeders Sessions are cancelled until further notice. Here , you can find past photos of what the Garden should look like throughout the year.
Under the revised guidelines announced on May 10th, Fishing is once again permitted, subject to the 2 metres social distancing rule. However, please be aware that, under the Council's bylaws, in order to protect the wildlife including nesting birds, the lake is subject to an annual close season for Angling, and that close season remains in force until June 16th.
The Children's Playground near to the entrance of the Park remains closed under the Government's Coronavirus Rules.
Please note that cycling is not allowed within the Park even in normal times under the Council's by-laws. What is allowed - encouraged - to do is to cycle to the Park and make use of the Cycle Racks so that you can enjoy your daily exercise walk / jog / run in the Park's beautiful setting.

Register to receive our Quarterly 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 quarterly newsletter, and the occasional e-mail. . Please see our membership page for more details.

'Hot' News......

The Skylark Regeneration Project

There are many references to skylarks on this website - for a start, our logo is based on this irresistible and intriguing bird, and it is also provides the title of our quarterly newsletter. Back in the early days of the Wick Country Park, Skylarks were common flying high in the sky, but now they have sadly gone.

Our current project is the regeneration of an area in the Park to encourage the Skylarks back by planting Teasels. A substantial area within the Park was sown in early April. Some rain would help to promote germination!

The teasel is a tall plant and is identified by a cone-like flower head with flowers that are tiny and purple, and then the seed heads turn brown in winter. Teasels are visited by bees when in flower and by birds when in seed. Importantly, the plants also provide essential cover for ground-nesting birds, such as skylarks. The Skylark plot was prepared prepared early in 2020, and a substantial area within the Park was sown in early April. Some rain would help to promote germination!

We will keep you informed of progress - hopefully pictorially when the Teasels flower!

Nature Notes update

Please click on the Nature Notes link in the side menu for a new report (May 2020).

New regular Monthly Event at the WCP: Wick Country Park Wednesday Wildlife Walk

Once a month, on a Wednesday morning, Martin Singleton, from the Wickford Wildlife Society, will be facilitating a leisurely walk around the Park looking out for birds and other wildlife. The first such walk was held on February 19th 2020, and a report can be found here. For more Information about the Wickford Wildlife Society, please visit the WWS website. These walks have unfortunately been suspended due to the Covid-19 restrictions

January Jaunt & AGM, January 19th 2020

More than 30 people joined the Park Ranger, Mark, for our annual 'Jaunt' on January 19th 2020 on a beautiful sunny, calm Winter's Day. Amongst the participants were several children - and an extremely well-behaved dog on a lead. Members of the Wickford Wombles also joined us, and cleared litter on the way round! Please click here for a fuller gallery and report. (Updated on Thursday, 20-Feb-2020 16:47:14 GMT .)

Afterwards, we all enjoyed the mince pies and hot mulled wine or fruit punch back in the Pavilion. The refreshments were followed by the AGM, a full report on which will appear in the February 2020 edition of Skylarks. To see the Chair's report to the AGM, please click here

New page - Volunteering

Please visit this new page to read about ways in which you can become involved with the Friends group

Past Events

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

Kites & Classic Car Display - Sunday September 17th 2017

Skylarks 3K race, Wednesday July 26th 2017

January Jaunt & AGM Sunday 15th January 2017

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!

FoWCP Picture

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

FoWCP Picture

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.