Friends of Boscombe Chine Gardens

Celebrate Earth Day by helping vital pollinators in local parks.

This year's Big Give Earth Raise campaign is LIVE!

Any donation you make will be doubled - for one week only.

So, if you donate £10, we'll receive £20 (at no extra cost to you or us). That means you can make double the impact in your local park.

Make your donation via the Big Give website, from now until midday on Wednesday 29 April.

Please help The Parks Foundation raise £8,000 to help improve parks across Bournemouth, Christchurch, and Poole for essential pollinating insects - like bees and butterflies - as well as our community.

As a small local charity, every £1 really does make a big difference.

https://donate.biggive.org/campaign/a05WS00000BKSY6YAP

🐝The Parks Foundation is taking part in Earth Raise.

Across Bournemouth, Christchurch, and Poole, their charity works to enhance more than 20 of their local parks, improving them for nature and the community. They’ve created wildlife ponds, community growing beds, added hundreds of trees, shrubs, and hedging, and run more than 1,000 free activities each year for local people to attend.

Increased urbanisation is linked with a 43% drop in pollinating insects - which are vital for our ecosystem. So they’re on a mission to transform urban parks and recreation grounds in the area and get them buzzing with life.

For one week only, from 22 - 29 April they are asking for your help to raise £4,000 which will be doubled by The Big Give Trust. So your donation will have twice the impact in local parks.

Together, let's help our parks and pollinators.

Please click the link for more details:
https://donate.biggive.org/campaign/a05WS00000BKSY6YAP

🦋 April is going to be an exciting month. The Parks Foundation is delighted to announce they will be part of the amazing Big Give Earth Raise campaign again this year - a special week when donations to environmental charities are doubled by the Big Give organisation.

Read on to find out more, and save the date in your diary: Wednesday 22 - Wednesday 29 April.

April is also Citizen Science Month, and marks the beginning of their butterfly surveys this year - a great opportunity to visit your local park, learn how to monitor these incredible insects, and spot other signs of spring as well as these emerging pollinators.

They'll look out for butterflies like the speckled wood in the image.

It's also a great time to visit their charity's community cafes - come and see the transformation, and enjoy a cuppa served up by their friendly team which is made up almost entirely of volunteers.

We look forward to seeing you this springtime. 🌱

Meet Charlie, The Parks Foundation’s first young adult ranger, who found his passion for working outdoors and, following taking part in their sessions, went on to an internship in a green role 🌱

This National Careers Week, find out more about Charlie's experience of their Young Adult Ranger Work Experience sessions in local parks across Bournemouth, Christchurch, and Poole, and how you can get involved: parksfoundation.org.uk/ranger-work-experience/

These sessions are for people aged 16-25 years.

Their Young Adult Ranger Work Experience Programme is part of the Youth for Climate and Nature (YouCAN) scheme, which aims to connect young people across the New Forest and surrounding areas to nature, build green skills, and lead climate action in their communities.

☀️🌱 Spring is on its way.

🔎 Boscombe Chine Gardens were developed from a Victorian-era heathland ravine into a public park, with formal development beginning in the 1880s.

Initially, the area was transformed into a fashionable resort called 'Boscombe Spa' due to a mineral spring, and the gardens 🌿 were laid out with features like tennis courts, a croquet ground, and a bowls green.

After a period of decline in the latter half of the 20th century, the gardens were revitalized in the 1990s and 2000s with funding from the Heritage Lottery Fund, leading to new features and restored beauty. 🌳

Now the volunteers of Friends of Boscombe Chine Gardens and The Parks Foundation work hard to preserve the space to ensure everyone can enjoy the picturesque, charming, elegant, serene, tranquil, vibrant and inviting gardens.

A message from The Parks Foundation…

We want to say a big THANK YOU to National Lottery players.

We are hugely grateful for the funding our charity has received from the National Lottery Heritage Fund and National Lottery Community Fund, which helps us carry out our work in local parks across Bournemouth, Christchurch, and Poole - bringing people and nature together, and enhancing these vital urban greenspaces so that local communities and wildlife can flourish.

Thank you for making a real difference to our charity and local parks 💚

To find our more about our charity and our work, visit: parksfoundation.org.uk/

✍🏻 FREE fun events in Boscombe Chine Gardens.

Thanks to The Parks Foundation.

Limited places, please book as soon as possible. 🌳

🍂 Autumn days in Boscombe Chine Gardens.

October 2025.

Photos thanks to Nicola P. 📸