Come along and tell us about the spaces you love in Chiddingly Parish

Greening Chiddingly invites everyone – young and old, from Golden Cross to Stonehill and Whitesmith to Gun Hill – to come along to this free one-day family event and help us build a community map of your 'Special Spaces' in Chiddingly Parish. The event takes place from 10am to 4pm on Saturday 28 February in Chiddingly Village Hall. You can pop in at any time and stay for as long as you like.
 
With development encroaching on the parish from all sides, the aim of the event is to come together as a community to celebrate, record, map and protect the places that we love in the area that we live. This builds on the parish’s strong connection with its natural landscape and our shared commitment to caring for our local environment. Support for the event has been provided by the Lund Trust through the High Weald Nature and Community Fund.

What do we mean by 'Special Spaces?

Your ‘special spaces’ could be anywhere in Chiddingly Parish with special meaning to you – but we particularly want to hear about those places where you go to connect with the natural environment, or that support wildlife, biodiversity or low-carbon living, or that promote a sense of local community and belonging.

Your special space might be an especially gnarly old oak tree, a particularly beautiful area of woodland, your favourite spot while you are out dog-walking or horse-riding, an amazing viewpoint on the Weald Way, a field where the birdsong is wonderful, the wildflower patch in your back garden – or simply a place that holds special memories for you or your family.

It doesn’t have to be a natural space – it might be an eco-business that promotes renewable energy, a barn covered in solar panels, an outbuilding where bats or owls roost, the Village Shop or even the back bar of the Six Bells. You can tell us about one special space or several – big or small, it doesn’t matter. Get your thinking caps on...

What should I expect on the day?

The Village Hall will be divided into three ‘zones’. Each zone will have a giant map of the parish and stickers for you to mark on your ‘special spaces’. There will also be large-format postcards for you to describe why each is special to you.

The three zones will be as follows:

• The Spaces for Nature zone is where you can map things like special trees, wild food gathering sites, native forests, wildflower sites, wildlife habitats, aquatic habitats, insect and bird watching sites, wetlands, water features, community gardens, parks and recreation areas, scenic viewpoints, sports pitches and so on.
• In the Sustainable Spaces zone, we are hoping to capture things like local businesses, eco-agriculture sites, stores selling eco-products, green buildings, solar energy sites, buildings with heat pumps, recycling sites, wheelchair accessible buildings, EV charging points, bicycle parking and bus stops, as well as water, air and noise pollution sources and habitats at risk.
• In the Culture and Society Spaces zone, we would love you to map spaces for cultural performance, local music and the arts, child- and senior-friendly spaces, alternative health resources, information points, schools (including green schools), pubs, memorials, places of worship, cemeteries, historic buildings and archaeological sites.

In addition to the three mapping zones, there will be three ‘corners’ in the hall where you can create and learn:

• In Creative Corner, there will be arts materials available to allow younger and/or more creative community members to sketch, paint, model or digitally recreate their special spaces. Local artists wil be on hand to provide support. If you wish, you can bring along paintings, photographs or other artworks of your own – whatever the creative output, we can add it to the map. 
• In Speakers' Corner, there will be a rolling programme of illustrated short talks where you can hear the results of our latest surveys of breeding birds and of the vertebrate and invertebrate species living in our rivers and streams. There will also be the chance to hear about about habitat change in Chiddingly since the 1870s based on historic Ordnance Survey maps.
  
• In Elders' Corner, you will get to hear recorded interviews with some of our parish 'Elders' talking about how the natural environment of Chiddingly has changed over the course of their lifetimes. 
  

Most importantly, there will be free hot drinks and refreshments available all day – well, this is a community event, after all! So come along, linger, chat, share and learn.

What will happen after the event

After the event, we will scan each postcard, transcribe each description and add each special space – with an image of any creative outputs – to a specially created digital map. This will provide a permanent record of the places we value. Think of it as our digital Domesday Book (but without the underlying tax-raising connotations). We will unveil the completed map at a launch event during summer 2026, followed by a community walk. We will also create printed maps showing suggested walking routes through some of your special spaces, available to community members and visitors alike.

What if I don't want my 'Special Spaces' shown on the digital map?

That's absolutely fine. Every aspect of the event will be GDPR compliant and mindful of privacy and land access/ownership issues. When you fill out a postcard about a special space you will be given a range of options about how you want your information to be used. If you don't want the precise location of your special space made public, just tell us. If you don't want your name displayed alongside the description of your special space, let us know. There will also be options to tell us if your special space is on public or private land or is accessible via a public footpath or bridleway.

If you have any questions or concerns ahead of the event, drop an email to [email protected].