After a long, hot summer, it is good to see fresh grass and clover turning The Patch green again as we look forward to the vibrant reds and browns of Autumn.

There’s been plenty happening in the park over the summer. In June the Patch Picnic brought together local families and older residents, helping to make new friendships and rekindle old ones. There are few more pleasant sounds than children happily playing in the park on a summer’s day!

In July, a team of local volunteers restored the dried-out wildlife pond at the top of the park. A series of dry summers, combined with a leaking pond liner, had reduced it to little more than a muddy puddle. The volunteers spent a very warm weekend clearing out the pond, replacing the liner and refilling it with water.

We hope the restored pond will once again provide a haven for newts, frogs, insects and other wildlife, while offering local residents and schoolchildren the chance to enjoy and learn a little about nature close to home. The hard work of our volunteers was covered in The Argus here.

When the evenings started to get dark a little earlier, our Bat Walk in August was a big success. Richard Howorth and the team entertained adults and children alike with an introductory talk and a quiz drawn up by local bat ecologist Colin Higgins. He wasn’t the only expert! It was great to see just how much some of the young people already knew about bats. Everyone really enjoyed seeing them in flight and hearing them with the help of a bat detector, while the younger children took delight in being up after bedtime for some twilight playtime in the park.

One parent said: “I came along with my partner and daughter (who loves bats!). We found out about it from my daughter’s bestie’s mum, who lives nearby and visits The Patch regularly. We all came along together. Rich gave a wonderful talk and we were delighted to see some bats. Thank you so much for a lovely couple of hours“

The Patch is a beautiful and welcoming space for both people and wildlife, and local community group Friends of William Clarke Park is dedicated to protecting and improving it. Our activities only happen because local people get involved and share their time and talents. There is lots more that we would love to do and we need your help to make those things happen. Come along to the the Pepper Rooms at The Islingword Tavern from 7.30pm on Thursday November 12th, to enjoy the annual members’ meeting and social get together. You’ll hear about opportunties to get involved in future events, including Spring in the Patch 2027. It would be great to see you there.

After all, it is your Patch.

If you are up and about early or enjoy a stroll around the park before dark, you will probably have seen our local foxes on patrol. But when every sensible person is tucked up in bed, the Patch badgers make their nightly rounds. And if they get bored with the park itself, they make more than an occasional visit to the neigbouring gardens.

A consolation for a bout of insomnia for one Bonchurch Road resident was spotting this nocturnal visitor sniffing for worms in the early hours. “The garden was full of holes in the morning” he said ruefully “but I suppose it is good for the soil in the long run!”

And the bees!

Towards the top of the Patch you may have spotted low flying bees swarming along the ground over a network of little tunnels. We believe these are Ivy bees. (Colletes hederae).

Acording to the Sussex Wildlife Trust “at the beginning of September, male Ivy bees emerge about two weeks before females, when scores of males can be seen flying low over the ground with an audible hum, much like honeybees around a hive. They are waiting for the first females to emerge. When one does, all the male bees try to mate with her, and this is when you might see a mating ball.

Male bees don’t have a sting and are completely harmless. The females have a sting but have rarely been known to use it on people. You’d need to be behaving in a seriously annoying way to provoke one.“

Ivy bees are only out for a few weeks at this time of year so enjoy them while you can.

The Patch is a real haven for wildlife. Bats, badgers, squirrels and far from shy foxes are all welcome residents.

On weekday afternoons the loudest noise you will hear is the happy sound of children from our three local primary schools laughing and playing together.

But at other times, close your eyes for a moment and listen to the free concert provided by the Patch’s birds!  This spring, neighbours have seen and heard robins, dunnocks, sparrows, long tailed tits, blackbirds, wood pigeons, blue tits, great tits, wrens and others. (As well as seagulls of course!)

There are simple free apps like Merlin and Warblr you can use to identify different birdsongs.

More about birds

The RHS website https://www.rhs.org.uk/wildlife/identify-garden-birds has great photos of many of the birds you are likely to see in The Patch.

The British Trust for Ornithology   is running a project to find out just how important greenspaces are for UK birds and provide guidance on effective greenspace management for birds and people. They want you to tell them which greenspace(s) you visited, how long you spent there, and which birds and how many of them you observed. See how to take part and sign up here. https://www.bto.org/get-involved/volunteer/projects/greenspaces/taking-part

And the RSPB has some really useful  information on what and when to feed garden birds https://www.rspb.org.uk/whats-happening/news/how-to-help-garden-birds .

So, when you are finished scrolling, put your phone down for a minute and start listening!

Some eagle eyed people have been concerned about the Patch pond drying out in this sunny weather. Our Wildlife expert and Co-Chair
Rich Howarth says “While tap water is detrimental to the water quality (rather than toxic), if there is an ’emergency’ for tadpoles, then it could be a stop gap. However, the plan is this summer to totally dry out if possible, and to replace the liner.”

If you are interested in getting involved with this task and generally tidying up the pond, please do sign up as a volunteer and we will let you know when we have a date. Volunteering Form – The Friends of William Clarke Park

The committee often gets asked over the NO DOGS POLICY in The Patch. For transparency, we will reveal the real reason why there is a NO DOGS POLICY in The Patch, check our Instagram feed to see to whom really runs the committee.

More evidence here on our Instagram feed

Mars the Cat is the real Chair!

Clue…

The popular Spring in The Patch community festival held in William Clarke Park (better known as The Patch) will be taking a “fallow spring” in 2026 with no event being held this April. Yet still potentially an event in the Autumn.

The Friends of William Clarke Park committee reluctantly took the decision not to go ahead this spring so that we can focus on raising funds, getting more volunteers actively involved and strengthening our structures.

It gets more expensive every year to safely organise events with rising insurance costs and essential equipment needing to be renewed or replaced.

Donations via our donations page are always welcome but even more important are volunteers willing to help organise events. We particularly need people with event management and fundraising skills but also people to help set up and steward events in the Patch. Here is the form to express interest.

We’ll still be active this year! Our annual Patch Spring Green Clean day will take place in March 22nd 10:30 ’til 1pm

We’ll be planning smaller community events to bring people together and raise funds for park improvements. We’re also hoping to hold our regular community get-together in September.

The Friends of William Clarke Park group is going through the process of registering as a charity so we can fundraise more effectively and continue working to keep The Patch a beautiful, welcoming space for people and wildlife alike.

If you would like to help out or to become a member of Friends of William Clarke (membership is free), please get in touch on info@williamclarkepark.org or via this form.

“Patch Park” – written by Pat Lynott, a Patch Local!

the kemptown line
came this way,
across the Lewes road
high on a viaduct,
across the Hartington
and rolling away
into the Elm grove tunnel

both viaduct and line
are long since gone,
except for the tracks bed,
now known as the Patch park,
a long flow of leafy green
nestling snugly between
the gardens back gates,
stretching gracefully from
playground to frog pond
down at the tunnels end.

Mark Riley was there, back in the day in New York and was friends of some of the folk who started the whole scene. A DJ who certainly has a tale or two to tell! Mark currently hosts a radio slot on 1BTN.

Here’s footage from a previous event, where Francis (DJ Frank) was on the “wheels of steel”.

DJ Frank says…

“The Patch Block Party event will be another great community event by The Friends of William Clarke Park, featuring music made in various districts of New York in the late 70’s to mid 80’s.

Great music came out of many communities such as The Bronx and Queens and reflected those communities. Some songs were about finding the best party, others about looking after one another and respecting yourself.  Norman Jay says when at a 70’s block party, MFSB’s classic track “Love is the Message” came on, he said you could feel the togetherness and emotion.

Rap took off in a big way and community was everything in South Bronx’s “The Bottom Line”, Kurtis Blow’s “Hard Times”, Gary Byrd “The Crown” and of course Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five (with Duke Bootee) “The Message”, a tough reality call on living in 80’s New York. 

Disco, soul and funk were still big, labels like Prelude and West End bringing heavy funk like Forrrce’s dubbed out funk crazyness “Keep on Dancing” to the cool disco-funk of The Strikers’ “Body Music”. Soon reggae-disco landed with Monyaka’s floor winner, “Go deh Yaka – Go to the Top” and then there was the futuristic sounds of electro. 

The rockers weren’t sleeping either, artists such as Talking Heads, James White & the Blacks, Arthur Russell, Lizzy Mercier Descloux and a young Madonna among many brought funk into their sound. It was all going on for sure!

Films such as “Wildstyle” and books “Can’t stop, won’t stop” by Jeff Chang and Sophie Bramley’s “Yo!” The early days of hip hop 1982-84″ give you a taste of what to expect at a very funky Patch event, hope to see you there!”

Why not contact City Books in Brighton for copies of the books!