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Botany Walks in 2026
A series of gentle ambles with frequent stops with botanist Martyn Stead to find and examine plants and flowers on the Meadows. Suitable for beginners and more experienced botanist. They will take place on: Wednesday 20th May Wednesday 17th June Wednesday 15th July Wednesday 19th August Wednesday 16th September Meeting at the Lower Park Road entrance, CH4 7BB ready to start at 6.30pm. Public Events in 2026
Dates for the events on The Meadows have been confirmed: Sunday 7th June: Deva Triathlon Sunday 5th July: Deva Divas Triathlon Sunday 12th July: Chester Raft Race Sunday 8th August: Dee Mile Swim Past Events
Annual General Meeting
Our Annual General Meeting took place on Thursday 20th November 2025 atHandbridge St Mary's Community Centre. The minutes can be viewed here. The business of the meeting being concluded it was followed by a talk by Mike Graham on the life and career of Thomas Harrison - a report is included in our latest Newsletter No 241 Botany Walks in 2025
A series of gentle ambles with frequent stops were organised with botanist Martyn Stead to find and examine plants and flowers on the Meadows. Suitable for beginners and more experienced botanists they took place on the following days: Meeting at the Bottoms Lane entrance, CH4 7AP ready to start at 6.30pm. Wednesday 21st May Wednesday 18th June Wednesday 16th July Wednesday 20th August Wednesday 17th September Public Events in 2025
The Deva Triathlon starting from Grosvenor Park has its run routes through the Meadows and took place on Sunday 1st June 2025 www.chestertri.org.uk/our-races/deva-triathlon/ The Deva Divas Triathlon (the Women only sprint triathlon) took place on on Sunday 6th July 2025 and has its transitions on the Meadows. https://www.chestertri.org.uk/our-races/deva-divas/ The Chester Raft Race took place on Sunday 20th July 2025. Events started at 10:00am and the race began at 10:00am from the Meadows http://www.chesterraftrace.org.uk/ The Dee Mile, one of the oldest races on the river, took place on Saturday 2nd August 2025 at 5:00pm. There was a Registration marquee on the Meadows. https://www.chestertri.org.uk/our-races/dee-mile/ Wildlife Recording walk at Chester Meadows - 25th April 2025
Organised as part of the City Nature Challenge for the Chester Region by by RECORD (The Local
Environmental Records Centre for Cheshire, Halton, Warrington and Wirral) and Chester Zoo. A relaxed stroll through Chester Meadows searching for and recording wildlife as part of their effort to boost the 'Chester Region' City Nature Challenge total. In this beautiful grassland and wetland habitat it is hoped to see hunting dragonflies and swooping swallows and maybe even hear the reel of Grasshopper warblers! Using the iNaturalist app to record wildlife as we go along - it's easy for anyone to use and join in. The event was free to attend and is aimed at adults and older children. Meeting near the Bottom's Lane entrance to the Meadows at 2pm to finish by 4pm For more information click here. An archive of Previous Events can be found here
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Civic Reception - Britain in Bloom
Volunteers from the FOM Committee attended this event on 4th May, hosted by The Lord Mayor of Chester in the Town hall to thank staff and volunteers for their hard work in Chester Parks and Green Spaces. As well as The Meadows, volunteers from Grosvenor Park, Alexandra Park and Caldy Valley also attended. Works on the Meadows - reports from the Greenspace Officer
April 2026 Scrub Management -The remaining cut scrub was finally chipped in January. The contractor was made aware of my concerns regarding the length of time this has taken to sort. Hopefully we won’t have this issue in the future; having consulted with our Biodiversity officer, using a tracked chipper is acceptable (although not ideal), but given the options when it comes to the scrub cutting, it’s the most practical. Riverside gates - The Riverside entrance gates and minor path repairs (opposite Deva Terrace) have now been completed. Trees - A survey of the riverside trees has been arranged by our Tree team. Some trees have been identified for removal. One willow by the Mound has split to the base. I have asked the contractors to leave a tall stump for deadwood but to remove the brash, so it doesn’t interfere visually with the avenue. An oak on Barnfield has got a split full length of its main stem. Having discussed various options trying to save the tree, the final decision has been to remove it. Whatever work they try to do on it to reduce the hazard to the public, it will compromise what is already a tree that at some point is destined to fail. It’s a shame but it happens. We can look at some point in the future to either replace it or leave the area to plant more wildflowers. October 2025 Disabled access gate - Following a site meeting with the contractor funding should be being pursued, but it will take time. I will ensure that it doesn’t get overlooked. Scrub Management - The work was completed on the main meadow in October. Following Chester Zoo rejecting the trees (for use as brash), various options for next year will be looked at that will make it easier and more efficient for the contractors to operate and so get more done in the allotted time. One possibility is chipping in the location of the felling so we don’t end up with lots of scrub lying about. On Elizabeth Crescent the works were also completed on restructuring the bramble (which is working really well). They have also taken out a small patch of mature gorse as it was encroaching into the grassed pathway. Gorse coppices well but is slow to regenerate. It will be allowed to regenerate but will also allow us to keep a wider path. Riverside gates – this has been reported and is sitting with the infrastructure officer for action. The erosion to the path (opposite Deva Terrace) has also been noted and flagged for repair. August 2025 The ‘cut and collect’ has now been completed. They've done a good job! Disabled access gates – A follow up meeting between the Greenspace Officer, contractors and the Council asset officer took place. This is being costed up and then funding will need to be sought. It appears that Radar gates are the best option rather than altering the existing gates. It may be some time before the money is found, but will update when more is known. The riverside gate damage has also been reported to the Asset Officer for action. Additionally there is some damage to the pathway adjacent to where people access for their dogs. This has also been reported and is with the Asset Officer for action. April 2025 Severn Trent finished the works on site in April which required ad hoc path closures of the riverside path for public safety, whilst they brought in equipment. Towards the end of the period pathwork repairs have been done. The Heras security fencing has been left up up to allow time for the grass to reinstate and bind the surface. These wil be removed once it is felt that the surface has bound sufficiently to allow open access again. |