Rangers, park volunteers and council officers have celebrated Haysden Country Park achieving a Green Flag Award for 10 consecutive years.

The Green Flag Award scheme, run by Keep Britain Tidy, recognises and awards the best parks and green spaces in the UK.

Haysden Country Park's flag flew proudly overhead on Saturday, September 12 during a special celebration.

To celebrate the tenth anniversary, Keep Britain Tidy’s Green Flag Award scheme manager, Paul Todd, presented Cllr Maria Heslop, the council’s cabinet member for community services, with a certificate.

He said: “A Green Flag flying overhead is a sign to the public that the park boasts the highest possible standards, is beautifully maintained and has excellent facilities. You only have to look around to see how true that is.

"Very high standards have been maintained over an entire decade and this certificate recognises that.”

Cllr Heslop said: “To achieve this prestigious award for 10 years running is testament to the rangers and staff involved, volunteer groups, wildlife specialists, partnership organisations and visitors for their continuing efforts to help us improve and develop the park. There’s no doubt that their efforts have paid off.

"Haysden Country Park provides a superb open space for local people to enjoy and is more popular with visitors than ever.

"We are very fortunate to have such enthusiastic and committed volunteers, who clock up some 2,000 hours each year and anyone who is enthusiastic and willing to ‘get their hands dirty’ would be very welcome to come along and swell the ranks – who knows, maybe we’ll manage 3,000 volunteer hours next year.”

Led by the British Trust for Conservation Volunteers under the Green Gym Programme, volunteering began at Haysden Country Park, situated near Tonbridge, in 2002.

There is now a group of around 30 volunteers, of whom some twenty normally attend monthly task days where they receive training and learn new skills.

They are involved in a wide range of projects throughout the park from fund raising, wildlife and wildflower monitoring, to conservation, and habitat management and maintenance tasks.

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