The Friends of Christchurch Park are delighted to announce the publication of Portrait of a Park: a year with the wildlife of Christchurch Park by local artist and naturalist Reg Snook. Highly informative, hugely entertaining and beautifully illustrated throughout, this 78 page paperbacktakes the reader on a journey through the wildlife year and brings vividly to life the sights and sounds of Ipswich’s very special town centre Park.
Reg has known and loved Christchurch Park for over forty years, and his curiosity and passion for the Park and its creatures shine out from every page. Derwent May of The Times says: “This is a very enjoyable and informative book. The author has a really deep and intimate knowledge of the birds and other creatures found in the Park, and his colour illustrations are splendid. I hope the book attracts many readers.” Simon Barnes of the same newspaper adds: “Urban parks are the interface between people and the wild world. They need protecting, they need celebrating. This book does both.”
Portrait of a Park, priced at £7.50, is published on 24 November 2011 and will be available from the usual retail outlets (including online – click the link to go direct to the book’s page at www.amazon.co.uk, where the “Marketplace” vendor is our selected distributor) as well as direct from the Reg Driver Centre in Christchurch Park. The Centre will also host a display of Reg’s artworks (many of which will be for sale) for two weeks from the same date.
Proceeds from the sale of this book will be used to support wildlife projects in Christchurch Park, and Reg has generously agreed to support the Park with a percentage of the sale price of his pictures. Both the book and the artworks will make fabulous Christmas gifts.
The official launch of Portrait of a Park will take place at the Reg Driver Centre at 7.30pm on Wednesday 23rd November, when Reg will introduce the book to us and talk about the birds and animals featured in it. There will also be an exhibition of his artworks for sale. Wine and soft drinks will be served. Limited parking will be available at the car park inside the Bolton lane entrance.
If you’re a member of The Friends, don’t forget that the launch event will be your last opportunity to obtain your free copy of Reg’s book, and to buy additional copies at the special promotional price of only £5.00. If you can’t get to the meeting, then please make sure that your application form (which formed part of the last FoCP Newsletter) gets back to Ann Snook by 23rd November.
New members will qualify for the offer so, if you’re not already a member, now might be a good time to join. You can find out how on our “How to join the Friends” page.