Birmingham is one of the greenest cities in Europe - with over 600 publicly accessible parks and green spaces across the city. Spending time in the natural environment improves our mental health and feelings of wellbeing. In this Birmingham Stories video we find out about the work of the Birmingham Open Spaces Forum in the city and the passion of their volunteers to maintain and create green spaces for their families and communities.

Birmingham Open Spaces Forum

Birmingham Open Spaces Forum (BOSF) is an infrastructure organisation which supports and brings together over 130 community led organisations who add value to parks and open spaces throughout Birmingham. Since BOSF's inception in 2004, the organisation has grown steadily and is now a significant and respected lobbying force able to enhance Birmingham’s parks and open spaces, both pragmatically and strategically. In 2021 – 2022 BOSF's members volunteered some 86,537 hours of their time in Birmingham's parks and open spaces - with an estimated financial value of £856,711. Alongside BOSF's practical support for Friends of parks groups, the organisation facilitates peer to peer learning and promotes access to other organisations who work within the environmental agenda, including many regional and national partners.

You can follow BOSF on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

Partners

WSA Community Consultants and Merida Associates worked with Birmingham Museums Trust on the Birmingham Stories project.

WSA Community Consultants specialises in community development, meaningful participation and social inclusion. They have a strong ethical approach and values, with an emphasis on being inclusive, respectful and accessible. They focus their work on ensuring that the voice of lived experience is felt through community development, training, evaluation and research.

Merida Associates are consultants to the public and voluntary sectors. We provide specialist support in engagement, evaluation, organisational development and cross-sector working.