All the colours of chalk grassland! Artwork takes pride of place
January 31, 2020
Beautiful artwork created by the community to celebrate our chalk grasslands has taken pride of place at The Manor Gym in Brighton.
People were all smiles as the colourful mural took centre stage in the community centre’s foyer as part of a new wall to inspire people to get involved with helping the environment.
Hundreds of families from Whitehawk and surrounding areas helped to colour in the canvass during last summer’s Wild Chalk event, held at East Brighton Park and organised by the South Downs National Park Authority and Brighton and Hove City Council.
The artwork shows the amazing variety of life found in the chalk grassland habitat around Brighton and Hove – including 29 species of butterfly, such as the brilliantly-coloured Adonis blue, and rare plants such as the round-headed rampion, lady’s tresses and early spider orchids.
Tanya Saunders, Centre Manager and Director of the charity that runs The Manor Gym said: “We all really enjoyed the Wild Chalk event last year and the colouring wall was certainly a highlight for a lot of people. We like how the whole community of Whitehawk came together to create this beautiful artwork. It’s great that it’s now part of our welcome area. We hope to use the wall to promote environment-related activities in and around Whitehawk.
“It’s just amazing having the South Downs National Park on our doorstep. We have the South Downs to the left and the sea to the right, so we all feel very lucky to have this nature around us.”
The Manor is run by a small group of local residents who have been providing sports and other leisure activities to the community since 2005.
Laura Warren, Events and Engagement Officer for the South Downs National Park, said: “We’re really pleased to hand over this eye-catching artwork to the community of Whitehawk.
“Chalk grasslands really are a national gem, sometimes likened to being ‘Europe’s rainforest’ as you can find up to 40 different species in a square metre.
“We hope this artwork inspires people of all ages to find out more about chalk grassland and what we can all do to help protect it for future generations.”
Since the Second World War, the UK has lost around 80 per cent of grasslands and, in the South Downs, they cover just 4 per cent of the National Park’s area. Over one-third of the sites are less than one hectare in size.
The South Downs National Park Authority is working with a range of local partners to protect what remains and reverse this decline. Each year volunteers clear invasive scrub, collect and propagate local grassland seeds to help restore chalk grassland habitat.
Wild Chalk will return on Sunday, 19 July to East Brighton Park with a packed line-up of fun activities. Details of the event will be announced later this year.