A project to make more girls feel welcome in York’s Rowntree Park was chosen as one of ten parks —out of 2,000 across the country— to win one of Green Flag’s “Best of the Best” awards.
Make Space for Girls in Rowntree Park was launched in 2021 to reverse the drop off of in-park use as girls get older. The project’s success in encouraging more than 250 10-to-18-year-olds into the park to attend their programme of free events, made it the obvious choice for the UK’s ‘Best initiative to engage and increase the use of parks by women and girls’ award.
Project lead Abigail Gaines said, “Winning the award is amazing but the real joy comes in seeing the mass increase of teen girls who were in the park this summer involved in the events and activities. Seeing them try new things, meeting new people, watching their confidence grow, and creating a community was just a fantastic thing. We are looking for funding to run again in 2024.”
To read more about the impact of the changes at Rowntree Park, head to www.rowntreepark.org.uk/make-space-for-girls.
Add a comment