Conscientious locals have been busy rolling up their sleeves…

Peterborough residents living around Botolph Green have been hard at work giving the landmark space a new lease of life.

The Botolph Green Residents’ Association (BTGA) has led a number of initiatives in recent weeks which have seen several areas of the Oundle Road park improved.

The first, and arguably most considerable endeavour has been to smarten up the fence which borders the green.

Volunteers from St Botolph's Green, Orton who are looking after the area.

placeholder image — Volunteers from St Botolph's Green, Orton who are looking after the area.

The fence was originally designed to evoke the look of a racecourse (a theme which is supported by several adjacent roads being named after places around Newmarket racecourse).

BTGA spokesperson Guy Dangerfield told the Peterborough Telegraph why residents were so keen to restore the fence to its former glory.

“The railings which run around the green were looking a bit sorry for themselves,” he said: “The paint was starting to flake off.”

Guy explained that, although the BTGA has a core group of people to call upon to help maintain Botolph Green’s paths, pond and wooded area, more help was needed to tackle the fence.

“For the fence we used our Facebook presence to encourage people who hadn’t previously been involved before to take part.”

"Many hands definitely make light work,” observed one contributor commenting on Facebook. “We enjoyed it - thank you to those that organised the necessary resources."

Along with mustering the necessary manpower to tackle the task, Guy was thrilled that the social media shout-out also helped to establish and strengthen community bonds.

“That was a positive,” he noted, adding “[and] what we were hoping to achieve.”

Guy noted that the BGTA has also had some “very productive discussions” with the council about repairing a few sections of fence where the timber has deteriorated.

“Councillor Daisy Blakemore-Creedon has agreed to help with that,” Guy confirmed. “Once those are done we can paint those missing sections as well.”

Along with efforts to smarten up the fence, the BGTA has also tidied up the pond and had a defibrillator installed.

Local residents have been uniformly impressed with the results:

"Well done to all who helped,” said one resident on social media: “It looks great."

“We're really lucky we've moved into such a kind and caring neighbourhood,” commented another. “It's lovely to be part of it."