June 2025: New Rubbing Posts Installed in Basingbourne Park
We are excited to announce the installation of our new beautiful rubbing posts in Basingbourne Park! This new addition to the park has been made possible thanks to a generous grant from the Hampshire & Isle of Wight Wildlife Trust, and we’re proud to see it come to life with the support of Fleet Town Council, who adopted the project.
The posts were installed in June by the Scouts and Guides as part of their community service. Their hard work in helping us to improve the park for the community is very much appreciated!
The rubbing posts feature various types of wildlife that are commonly found in the park, providing both an educational and fun experience for park visitors. The wildlife depicted across the newly installed posts includes:
- Tawny Owl
- Woodpecker
- Bumblebee
- Fox
- Badger
- Pipistrelle Bat
- Scots Pine
- Beech Tree
- Newt
- Gorse
- Oak
- Songthrush
Each post offers a unique rubbing design, allowing children and families to explore and learn more about the diverse wildlife that inhabits our beautiful park. We have three more left to install this summer, which will feature images of a Nuthatch, Brimstone Butterfly, and Roe Deer.
We’d like to extend our thanks to the HIWWT for the funding, to Fleet Town Council for their ongoing support, and to the Guides and Scouts for their hands-on involvement.
We hope that the new rubbing posts will be enjoyed by many visitors, both young and old, for years to come!
Friends of Basingbourne Park Pond Dipping April 2025
We were very lucky with the weather on Sunday 27th April 2025 as 9 excited youngsters gathered by the stream between the park and the woods.
Equipped with long handled nets and individual containers, they soon started catching aquatic creatures.
Amongst the finds were a Hog Louse, an Emperor Dragonfly larva, a Water Measurer (similar to a pond skater), a Weevil and some newts.
At the end of the session everyone had a chance to examine all of the creatures in the main container with the help of magnifying glasses and lenses
Easter Egg Hunt – Saturday 12th April 2025
The sun shone brightly for this year’s Easter event in the Park! Over 120 children and their families joined us for our Easter Egg hunt through our beautiful woods and heathland glades.
We raised a fantastic £451.41 in donations on the day and with other online
donations and sale of spare eggs, we raised a total of £613.83 towards our new play equipment fund!
A huge thank you to the team of 24 volunteers who helped with the event, especially to our marshals and those who provided the lovely cakes for the event. Thanks also go to the Guides for use of the Guide Hall, and to Fleet Town Council for use of the Park, Pavilion and printing the clue sheets for us.
We hope all who took part had a fantastic time, and we hope to see you again soon at some of our future events!
Annual General Meeting – Saturday 1st March 2025
Thank you to everybody who came along to our AGM. Lead Speaker Sarah Horton gave us a fascinating insight into tornadoes including some events that have occurred as locally as Farnborough and Yateley, and Councillor Stephen Parker who updated us on a number of local traffic initiatives including the scheme to introduce pedestrian crossings across Reading Road South near Velmead Road and Basingbourne Road.
The meeting voted to accept last year’s accounts and to reinstate the 7 remaining members of the Committee for the coming year. We also took the opportunity to thank Lindsay Soars (who was stepping down from the
committee) for all her support over the last 12 years.
Christmas Events – December 2024
We had a really busy December with our regular Carol Singing, a second Mistletoe Stall with the Fleet Pond Society, and holding our first Christmas Quiz and Social in several years (with associated raffle). Across these events we raised £1332 towards our New Play Equipment Fund, and that was boosted to £2380 when we add in other donations received throughout the year! Thanks again to everybody who contributed, supported or participated in these events!
Tea & Biscuits with AGM – 4th March 2023
Thanks to those who came along to our AGM. There was some good discussion and suggestions for the coming year. The 2022 accounts were accepted and the Committee re-elected.
Carols in the Park – Friday 9th December 2022
It was great to see over 40 people come along to the park and enjoy the Christmas Carols, mulled wine and mince pies, despite the freezing conditions.
The pavilion and playground was lit up and decorated with bunting and colourful lights. The service was led by Church Crookham Baptist Church.
The plentiful hot drinks and festive nibbles went down well in the chilly weather. Thank you to everyone who attended.
Heather in the Heathland – September 2022
We are very pleased to report that the heather is spreading over the whole of the heathland from the smaller area that could be seen previously.
Scouts and Guides Volunteer Week – 4th to 8th July 2022
We had volunteers helping from the Scouts, Guides and Boys Brigade. They built an additional Weir in the ditches, painted the wooden climbing frame and took part in a Balsam Bash – although we could already see a reduction from the previous year, which shows this approach is working well. We counted 274 Bog Asphodels this year, a similar number to the amount we had in 2017. This was a slight reduction from the last couple of years, but this may be due to the prolonged hot weather we have had this summer.
Bat Walk – Wednesday 15th June 2022
Our June bat walk was a lovely evening, with Noctules on the Sports Field and both Soprano & Common Pipistrelles by the stream.
Despite the bats, we got rather distracted by a pair of baby tawny owls chirruping in a tree, presumably waiting for food. We could see them silhouetted against the sky and hear them really clearly. We also found a family of pipistrelles flying over the Heathland by the information board.
Easter Egg Hunt – 16th April 2022
Thanks to everybody who came along to our Easter Egg Hunt on a lovely day in Basingbourne Park! The sun was out and for the first time in 3 years we were able to welcome guests to our Easter Egg Trail. We hope everybody who came along had a wonderful time, and will come back next year.
A huge thank you to all of our volunteers and donors who helped or contributed in any way. A special thank you to our some of our younger members, Guides and Scouts who helped with marshalling the trail routes.
Spring Clean – Saturday 26th March 2022
Many thanks to the volunteers who came along for our Spring Volunteer Day. We got rid of lots of graffiti, we washed down loads of signs, benches and play equipment, weeded, planted, painted, litter picked, and cut back willows encroaching on paths and the park.
Bat Walk – Wednesday 16th March 2022
Our first bat walk for 2022 in March was a bit of a wash out due to rain just as we were due to meet. However, since then we have been out again and checked that there are already some bats out and about, and we were really excited to actually find a bat roosting in one of our bat boxes! This was visible with a powerful torch and was a real surprise as we normally just find spiders when we check them.
AGM – Saturday 5th March 2022
t was great to see everyone who came along to the AGM. One point to highlight is that our Development Plan has now expired, and we’d love to get receive any ideas and suggestions for the future.
Defibrillator installed at the Pavilion – February 2022
Fleet Lions have supplied and installed a defibrillator on the wall of the pavilion! They are really easy and safe to use. In the event that somebody needs CPR in the park, then you can access the defibrillator by phoning the number on the box, and they will talk you through how to use it. The device is clever enough that it will monitor the patient’s heart and it won’t shock them if it is not necessary. If you would like to participate in a session to get some hands on experience with one of these units, get in touch and we’ll try to get a session scheduled.