The very heart of Leeds - your idea of England’s greenest place?!

No, thought not … but, last week (Thursday 26 July) Leeds ventured a temporary claim to such an award when the Royal Armouries played host to this year’s Green Flag Awards.

Visitors found landscaping, play equipment, flowers and trees a-plenty, and all manner of re-cycling - all dedicated to the cause of using our green spaces, for the local community, and not just for their eye-catching beauty.

After a rigorous process, this year produced the highest number of successful Green Flag applicants. 554 parks got their flags - and a further 77 community-run sites won Green Pennants and 31 sites achieved Green Heritage Site Accreditation.

This excellent event featured also the first ISPAL exhibition stand - which was “manned” (excuse the verb) by new ISPAL CEO Sue Sutton, new Policy Manager Jane Strange and Lucy Roper, Information Hub Manager.

Lucy said: “Visitors to the stand were very positive. Everyone was invited to put, on an ISPAL postcard, their suggestions for what the Professional Body for Sport, Parks and Leisure should provide to those working in the industry - and the response was very encouraging.”

Special thanks from ISPAL go to Green Flag Award Manager, Paul Todd; to UAC who kindly provided a park bench; and to Green Miles Trees for the two lovely trees decorating the stand. And of course to all the members and non members who stopped by to chat with us, and give us their views!

ISPAL also thanks Green Flag pioneer Ken McAnespie who joined the ISPAL stand for most of the day.

Ken wrote later to say:- “It was great to see so many people enthusing about Green Flag. When Nick Reeves, myself, ILAM and a few others started it way back in 1995 we knew that it would catch on, but the scale of the event in Leeds was tremendous. It was also marvellous to see so many people being positive about the role that ISPAL can play in the future of greenspace management, and as one of the 3 key people identified to take ISPAL forward in this area, I was delighted to meet the new Chief Executive and Policy Officer, who are clearly determined to get things moving positively and quickly. I very much look forward to working with them.”

Paul Todd, Green Flag Award Manager, added: “It was fantastic to see so many winners in Leeds. The Awards event is an opportunity for all those people who have contributed to the success of their parks to celebrate their achievements. Thanks to the record number of winners this year, the event was the biggest yet.”

ISPAL would like to congratulate the many winners who worked so hard to achieve the high standards so evident at this Green Flag event - and who are playing such a big part in enhancing the quality of life across the UK.

Photograph: Birkenhead Park Swiss Bridge, Courtesy of Green Flag Award scheme