Friends of St Joseph's Park

Friends of
St Joseph's Park

@ The ZigZag Path, Penarth

About The Group

Friends of St Joseph's Park is currently our newest group. Formed in early 2022 with the intention of following a similar remit to that of Friends of Victoria Square by helping to care for and maintain as well as improve this local green-space for all to enjoy.

While the official name on the maps is St Joseph's Park (named after the former St Joseph's Church nearby), most residents and visitors know it better by its nickname...

THE ZIGZAG PATH

What the Group Does

Assists in the maintenance and care of flora and fauna of the park.
Finds ways to improve and enhance it for everyone.
Runs projects for the local community and to raise funds.
Runs projects for local schools, based around nature.
and more...

All activities are don in collaboration with and guidance from Vale of Glamorgan's Parks & Gardens Department*

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Gallery of St Joseph's Park

Wildlife Conservation

The Park displays a wide variety of flora and fauna, acting as a welcome habitat for birds, mini-beasts, bats and more. The area is surrounded by trees and wildflowers grow along its slopes. There is a small hidden stream running through it, emerging at the bottom of the path. A valuable water-source.

FoSJP will look to see what it can do to help preserve these habitats alongside their other projects. They will also look to see what projects they can run involving them, such as tying into the education curriculum of the nearby schools, student & national surveys and other studies. The presences of the group can help educate the visiting public on how to respect the park, as well as see it as more than just a connecting travel route.

Above - Planting an apple tree - October 2022

Why their work is important

A Gateway to Penarth

St Joseph's Park (The Zigzag Path) has become one of the major gateway travel routes for cyclists and walkers going to & from Cardiff and The Penarth Marina area and The Town Centre on top of the cliffs. It offers a gentle, vehicle free-route within a short distance of Cardiff Bay Barrage, The Pont-y-Werin Bridge, and the Penarth Rd & Barry Road junction, meaning users can avoid the busyness of the Windsor Rd Route and the steepness of Paget Rd.

Because of this, the park has a good number of visitors per day. FoSJP believes that as an introduction to Penarth it should be seen as a good representation of the town beyond and will look to help maintain, improve and enhance it for this purpose.

Sustainable Active Travel Route.

With the current drive towards encouraging people to ditch the cars and find alternative, more eco-friendly forms of transport, St Joseph's Park can play a key role in this for those travelling through the area. The park itself is particularly designed for this. FoSJP can look for ways to utilise this key feature as well as collaborate with other groups and organisations who promote such activities.

A Place of Wellbeing

While it may not be obvious that the park is a place that can be stopped and admired while passing through, it is actually quite a relaxing location once you notice this. Its quiet, has places to sit and offers a lot of natural features to discover. At night it is gently lit by path lights and there are bats often seen flying about.

Notable Activities

2022

May - Open Public Consultation Meeting for formation of the group.

October - Phase 1 - Planted 15 fruit trees

2023

2024

Feb - Litter pick of the woodland

Most of those who assisted with the group's first project of planting an orchard - October 2022

Lower entrance at night - November 2022

Formation of The Group

In Early 2022, a small group of local residents in and around Penarth Heights decided to come together to form this group after liaising with local nature groups and The Vale of Glamorgan Council with a view of improving the park with a small orchard, as well as for the flora and fauna that thrives there.

Several early consultations took place, with local groups and representatives from the VoGC, including a survey of local residents to get a feel of what could be possible.

On 26th May 2022 an open public meeting* was held in the nearby GVS* owned St Paul's Community Centre*. It was well attended with many people eager not only find out what was going on, but Get Involved.

The group's founders presented their plans for the park. This included the planting of new fruit trees to help create the orchard. This happened in October of 2022 with help from the Vale Local Nature Fund.

Active Details

Meeting Times & Locations:

This group currently has no set meeting days & times. Group meets for projects and planning & discussion meetings as needed. Socials also held.

Please see our Facebook Page for details.

St Joseph's Park, Royal Close, Penarth CF64 1SG, UK

Current Coordinators:

Neil Kitchiner & Jerry Cross

How to Join:

Turn up at one of our events. (see Facebook)

How to Contact:

Co-Op Partnership

Do you shop at Co-op with a membership card? You can choose us as a group that can benefit from this.

Online & Social Media

You can find more details about the group and their activities at the following sites:

Own Website: N/A

Facebook Page: @zigzagpathpenarth

Facebook Group: N/A

Instagram: N/A

Twittter: N/A

Whatsapp: Via Membership only.

Eventbrite: TBC

Other: N/A

Penarth Civic Society

Cymdeithas Ddinesig Penarth

formerly The Penarth Society