In celebration of Volunteers’ Week, a team of our colleagues joined forces with local community group Friends of Bowling Park to carry out a day of environmental improvements at Bowling Park in Bradford.

The team of eight volunteers rolled up their sleeves to complete a variety of tasks aimed at enhancing the park’s natural beauty and community spaces. Activities included cleaning park signage, planting shrubs and flowers, weeding cobbles, and restoring a bench near The Cabin, a space used for youth group events.

Volunteers were joined by Urban Ranger Kristian Eastwood of Better Place Bradford, a project that oversees improvements to local outdoor spaces to provide healthier and happier environments for families, to tackle The Roughs. This area of a scenic woodland in the park has become overrun with Himalayan Balsam—an invasive plant species that spreads rapidly and threatens biodiversity. By removing thousands of plants, the team helped create space for native flora and trees to thrive.

Bowling Park was selected for the volunteering initiative due to its proximity to the Birkshall Gas Site, off Bowling Back Lane, where N-Gen is investing millions of pounds as a partner in one of the UK’s largest low-carbon hydrogen production, storage, and refuelling stations.

The park was also chosen as it is currently welcoming increased footfall as it hosts The Beacon, a touring venue offering dance workshops, creative performances, and other cultural events as part of Bradford’s City of Culture 2025 celebrations.

George Taylor, a Volunteer for Friends of Bowling Park who took part in the day said

“The Friends of Bowling Park are committed to preserving and improving the beautiful green space at the heart of Bowling. It was a privilege and a lot of fun to spend the day with the N-Gen volunteers, who demonstrated strength in numbers and brought energy and enthusiasm to the tasks, making significant improvements. Initiatives like this are invaluable to small grassroots organisations like ours and we are grateful for this new connection”.

Kristian Eastwood, Urban Ranger for Better Place Bradford said

“A huge thanks to the team for their amazing efforts. The balsam in The Roughs spreads further each year, and as a rapid growing invasive plant it often outcompetes native plants. We were able to remove a significant area next to the main pathway running through The Roughs and it felt really satisfying seeing what we’d achieved at the end of the day. Plus, we were able to fill in some of the potholes along the pathway. A pleasure to link up with and thank you once again to all those involved”.

For more information about City of Culture events at Bowling Park visit The Beacon | Bowling Park – Community Event in Bradford, Bradford – Bradford

To find out more about Friends of Bowling Park visit Friends of Bowling Park – A local community group entrusted with maintaining, celebrating and improving our park

For more information about plans for the hydrogen production plant visit Home – Home – Bradfordhydrogen

For more informtion about volunteering opportunities with Better Place Bradford visit – Volunteering as a Ranger