Garden and Green

Pictures From Our Parks - Photography Competition

The Victorians left a great legacy of public parks in our great cities and towns throughout the UK, and some date long before that. When the industrial revolution brought in countless workers from the countryside to work in the factories and mills, the parks were green oasis free from the pounding of machines and air filled with fumes. They became places where ordinary people without cars could have a walk, perhaps play a game of bowls or tennis or just sit and watch the world go by.

In recent years some of our parks have seen a decline in use as many people moved out to the suburbs or prefered to drive to the coast or countryside on their day of leisure. Of course this is still the case, but a growing number of people now live in the city centres, often in apartments without outdoor space, and because of the cost of petrol cannot afford to run a car, so our parks are now becoming important again, providing a new generation with the benefits past city dwellers enjoyed.

The Lottery has allowed some parks to be transformed back to their former glory with large grants to improve landscaping, security, remove litter and graffiti etc. In fact the Heritage Lottery Fund and the Big Lottery Fund have allocated a whopping £160 million to invest in parks around the country. Now they want to celebrate the beauty and amenitty of the UK's parks by running a photography competition alongside GreenSpace, the national charity for parks which is open to all UK residents.

The prize is a very appealing £1,000 in Jessops photography equipment vouchers, which could help take the winners photography to the next level. All you need to do to enter is to take a trip to your local park and take a few shots of what you think stands out and represents something about the appeal or beauty of parks. You can then visit their website and upload up to 5 entries. However, if you do not have a digital camera you can still enter by sending in prints to the postal address in their FAQ section.

If you don't have a camera at all, but have a camera facility on your mobile then you can enter by sending an MMS to 07803851600 texting PARKS, your name and where you took the picture. (Charged at your operator's standard rate.)

The competition organisers advise YOU DO NOT take photographs of children in your local park without the express permission of the childrens parents, for obvious reasons.

The closing date for entries is 1st August 2008, and the website can be visited here

Best of luck!