The Borough Council have recently committed to the permanent enlargement of the public open space at Harding’s Pits. To the north of the existing Doorstep Green an area that was once allocated for housing will now be 0.5 Ha of new public ‘park’ (see blue line area below). To the south-east BCKLWN have recently granted planning consent for a 0.3 Ha ‘Community Orchard’ area (yellow line). In total this will create a 4 hectare (10 acre) public open space.

Beuys Acorns Project
In the new area to the north it is proposed to plant a circle of oak trees – which will be part of a nationwide art project started in 2007 by British artists Ackroyd & Harvey.  The work is inspired by the German artist Joseph Beuys (pronounced boys) (1921-86), an influential artist and environmental activist.
Ackroyd & Harvey collected acorns from Joseph Beuys’ famous environmental artwork ‘7000 Oaks’ in the city of Kassel in Germany. Beuys planted the trees, each with a stone marker, in an effort to ‘reconnect’ the community to nature after the city was heavily bombed in the second world war and then rapidly reconstructed afterwards.
Since 2007, the artists have nurtured the acorns they collected into thriving young trees. They are now planting circles of seven trees in urban public spaces across the UK, partnered by local cultural venues. Harding’s Pits has been selected for one of these circles, in partnership with GroundWork Gallery, supported by West Norfolk & King’s Lynn Borough Council.
The oak trees will be planted in early March. A grant application has been submitted for further elements that will follow, including additional footpaths, seating, a wildflower meadow and other planting.
Later in the spring Ackroyd & Harvey and associate artists, Johann Don-Daniel and Stevie Wishart will be leading on creative workshops to welcome the trees to the site, supported by the Arts Council of England. They will be working with the local community, including Whitefriars Primary Academy, Lynn Museum, the Groundwork Gallery and Harding’s Pits Community Association.

Community Orchard Project
BCKLWN recently granted planning permission for a new orchard of mixed fruit trees to be located on land adjacent to Winfarthing Avenue. The scheme includes a central path through the orchard, bench seats and enclosing hedgerows. The nearby ‘Purfleet Pantry’ social supermarket have expressed interest in working with local residents to use proposed raised beds for vegetable growing.
It is planned for the Community Orchard project to be developed over the next year.

In November HPCA and Civic Society volunteers combined forces to plant 1,000 spring bulbs around the Doorstep Green. We planted snowdrops, bluebells and native daffodils which we hope will self-naturalise and spread around the site. We hope that by having more late winter/early spring flowering plants around the site it will provide nectar for the first emerging insects. And make our site look and smell good! Thanks to the Civic Society for generously paying for the bulbs.

We are very sad to report the recent death of Sally Turff. She was a long-time friend and supporter of the Harding’s Pits Community Association, initially supporting her husband Roger to help set up the community group, develop a design and implementation plan and obtain funding to create the Doorstep Green.
As HPCA developed operational activities, Sally was involved in almost every aspect of the groups work for over 20 years, not least providing the lunch spread on volunteer workdays – which she continued doing until last year. Her homemade pea and ham soup was a particular favourite!
Sally was a Director of HPCA for the last 8 years and we will miss meeting in the front room at Queen Street to discuss and plan activities. HPCA certainly will not be the only group mourning the loss of Sally as she was a Town Guide, former secretary of the Civic Society and enthusiastic supporter of many other local groups and societies.
We have all lost a dear friend, colleague and committed fellow citizen who wanted the best for King’s Lynn.

It’s good to see sparrowhawks regularly visiting the Pits this winter. They are one of our more common birds of prey, but not everyone will have seen one. Their population has recovered greatly since the 1960s and 70s when they were a particular victim of agricultural pesticides and habitat loss.
Although they prey on many of our smaller birds, in general we think it is a good sign that they visit our site. It means that our establishing woodland and local bird population is now supporting a whole food chain. Winter sparrowhawks may have arrived from further north – as far away as Scandinavia.
Male birds are slate grey and noticeably smaller than the browner female birds.