Thousands To Enjoy Free, Fun Activities This Summer As ParkLives Comes To Nottingham

Nottingham’s parks will host hundreds of fun and free activity sessions this year as part of a scheme to get city residents up and active in their community parks and green spaces.

Nottingham City Council has teamed up with Coca-Cola Great Britain to bring ParkLives – a programme of free, enjoyable activities delivered by dedicated instructors – to the city.

The aim is to encourage as many people as possible to join in the sessions, which start at the end of May at 20 parks, including Wollaton Park, Clifton Playing Fields and Highfields Park, and run until late September.

The programme is designed to appeal to all ages and abilities and will offer a range of sports, games and activities, taking in everything from Zumba to multisport and rounders.

ParkLives’ big launch event will take place during half term on Tuesday 26th May, 11am -3pm, with a packed programme of activities at Colwick Country Park. The day will feature wall climbing, high rope courses, park ranger activities and canoeing and powerboating on the lake. There will also be Thai Chi, rounders, archery, football and plenty of picnic areas to rest and relax in between activities.

Throughout the summer, alongside traditional sports like beginners’ running and tennis there will be plenty more unusual fun activities to try, including geocaching – a unique digital/real-world treasure hunt and family bushcraft – where you’ll learn how to make a campfire and build a shelter.

The more adventurous can get stuck into open-water swimming, slacklining (a form of tightrope walking), and Parkour – also known as free-running. Sessions are held through the week and are generally an hour long. A full list of activities will be available soon at www.parklives.com.

Nottingham City Council’s Portfolio Holder for Leisure and Culture, Councillor Dave Trimble said: “We’ve invested more than £28 million into our city’s parks and open spaces in the last ten years, and the ParkLives initiative is going to make more use of them than ever.

“We’re always looking for ways to help more people keep active and this series of activities is designed to be fun, accessible and open to all abilities. I’d encourage everyone to sign up and find out what’s happening in their local area.”

ParkLives launched last year in Birmingham, Newcastle and the London Borough of Newham and following that success is expanding to include Nottingham and other cities to be announced later this month. It is part of Coca-Cola Great Britain’s commitment to invest £20m between now and 2020 in programmes to encourage and support one million people to be more physically active.

Liz Lowe, ParkLives lead at Coca-Cola Great Britain said: “ParkLives is all about bringing communities together to enjoy fun, free activities in their local green spaces.

“It’s an opportunity to get out there and try something new with your friends and family, have fun and be active in the great outdoors.

“Nottingham’s parks are going to be buzzing with activity all summer and I hope it will inspire people to join in as many sessions as they can.”

Nicola Cranshaw, Run Activator for Run Nottingham, said: “I’m really excited about being involved with the ParkLives project. It will be a great way to get people active not just in running but in all different kinds of sport and physical activity.”

ParkLives builds on the work Nottingham City Council has been undertaking with Sport England’s ‘This Girl Can’ campaign to get more women active, with sessions targeted at women and girls including Zumba-Tomic, street dance, Bokwa, Yoga, Pilates, BuggyFit and roller skating.

All ParkLives sessions will be free and led by a trained session leader supported by local Friends of Parks and Park Ranger volunteers.

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Notes to editors:

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About ParkLives in Nottingham
The ParkLives programme is designed to help people in Nottingham be a bit more active by removing barriers such as cost, location and travelling distance – and by providing a sociable, friendly and welcoming atmosphere to try out a variety of different activities for all ages and abilities.

Activities will take place in the following parks:

About Coca-Cola Great Britain
Coca-Cola Great Britain is responsible for marketing 19 brands and over 100 products to consumers across Great Britain. Led by Coca-Cola, one of the world's most valuable and recognisable brands, our company portfolio includes Fanta, Sprite, Dr Pepper, Oasis, glaceau vitaminwater, glaceau smartwater, Schweppes, 5 Alive, Lilt, Kia Ora and Powerade. For more information about Coca-Cola in Great Britain, please visit our website at www.coca-cola.co.uk.