Last summer, Birmingham’s parks and open spaces took centre stage in a very special way.
Over four Sundays in August 2025, BOSF Ambassador and Team4Nature Co-founder Chris Millward carried our 20th Anniversary Celebration Baton across the city. He walked more than 155,000 steps, visiting over 30 open spaces, and meeting the remarkable volunteers who give their time to help care for them!
It was a journey that travelled through parks, nature reserves, cemeteries, allotments and community gardens from Cotteridge to Sutton Coldfield, from Perry Barr to Yardley – a living map of Birmingham’s extraordinary network of open spaces, and the people who help keep them thriving.
For those who don’t know us, Birmingham Open Spaces Forum (BOSF) is a Birmingham-based charity that has spent over 20 years supporting over 180 volunteer Friends Groups across the city. These are the people who organise litter picks, plant wildflower meadows, run nature walks, maintain community gardens, and fight to protect the green spaces that matter most to their neighbourhoods. They are, as Chris came to call them over those four Sundays, Birmingham’s “Unsung Heroes.”
The Journey Begins: Day 1
The Baton set off from Cotteridge Park on Sunday 3rd August – the place where BOSF’s own story began over 20 years ago – travelling through the Northfield and Edgbaston constituencies, visiting Deelands Community Garden, Balaam’s Wood, Ley Hill Park, Senneleys Park, Pitts Wood, Queens Park, Harborne Hill Allotments, Edgbaston Reservoir and finishing the day at Sheepcote Street Nature Group – 10 stops in total.
At each stop, Chris met with Friends Groups, heard their stories, and gathered their memories and visions for the future!
As Chris reflected at the end of Day 1: “I’ve walked across the city before, but today held something really powerful. Because we asked for your memories, milestones and visions, these themes came out in our conversations and the projects you showed us. To absorb all this incredible work in one day gave me a real insight into the huge contribution you make to Birmingham.”
“This has to be one of the most inspiring and special days of my life. After today, I think it’s official: you’re the city’s unsung superheroes!”
Wildlife was never far away either – from a Nuthatch calling in Cotteridge Park to a baby sparrow spotted on Franklin Road, with butterflies dancing through Ley Hill Park and Harborne Hill Allotments.
Gladiators with Wings: Day 2
The following Sunday, Chris and his partner Sukhjit picked up the Baton from Sheepcote Street Nature Group, heading north through Livingstone Road Allotments, Witton Lakes, Handsworth Park, Perry Hall Park, Queslett Nature Reserve and New Hall Mill before reaching Sutton Park – finishing the day at Wylde Green Station. Nine stops covering some of Birmingham’s most loved green spaces.
The sun was shining, the smiles were wide, and birds & butterflies became a recurring theme – a beautiful reminder, as Chris put it, that “when they thrive, we thrive too.”
Chris reflected at the end of the day: “Today I walked alongside Gladiators with Wings. You rise above challenges, staying in the arena when it would be easy to give in. Your magic dust is care, commitment and compassion, and what I witnessed today will stay with me forever.”
“Your creativity, resourcefulness and steadfastness is the stuff of legendary stories and I was absolutely in awe of you all throughout the day. As a collective of volunteers with such special qualities you have created a formidable movement that not only adds so much good stuff to the city now, but also offers so much hope for a future where our great city and its people can thrive.”
Nature Connects Every Corner: Day 3
Day 3 picked up from Wylde Green Station and headed through Hodge Hill and into Yardley, revealing some of Birmingham’s most beautiful green corridors – linking parks and people, and showing how nature connects every corner of the city.
From Colebourne Meadows, Cotterills Lane Recreation Ground, Ward End Park, Stechford Hall Park, Hodge Hill Common, Fastmoor Oval, Tile Cross Park, St Peter’s Park, Old Yardley Park and finishing at Westley Vale Millennium Green – nine stops where volunteers welcomed Chris and Sukhjit with stories, projects and visions that bring their local spaces alive.
Wildlife sightings on the route included a Grey Heron, Egret and Kingfisher, alongside butterflies such as the Meadow Brown and Green-veined White.
Chris carried a clear message throughout the day: “Nature must come first in our plans to develop our great city.”
The Grand Finale: Day 4
The final Sunday brought the Baton home – from Westley Vale Millennium Green through Reddings Lane Park, Sparkhill Park, Cannon Hill Park and Brandwood End Cemetery, before the Baton arrived back at Cotteridge Park at 12:30pm for a special celebration.
It was a day full of meaning – Chris revisited Sparkhill Park, where his Nan had taken him as a child. He walked through Cannon Hill Park alongside Professor Paul Cadman, and joined local historian Professor Carl Chinn MBE in Brandwood End Cemetery.
Paul Cadman reflected on the day: “I’ve grown up in this city and have enjoyed its green spaces all my life. I’m so grateful to Chris and to BOSF for drawing people’s focus to the beauty of nature and the tangible benefits of spending time in nature – free to us all if only we’d step outside and see it, savour it and take it in.”
By the end of four Sundays, Chris had walked more than 155,000 steps across 34 parks, green spaces and community gardens, met countless volunteers, and gathered a city’s worth of stories, memories and visions. As he summed it up at the finish line: “Built on positive energy. Built on community action. Built on pride.”
Watch the Baton Walk Film
Thanks to Jane W. at Fandango Media, the story of the baton walk is captured in this short film.
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The Brum Biosphere
This week, Chris Millward launches the Brum Biosphere – a citywide collaboration designed to build community and pride in place across Birmingham, whilst connecting more people with nature. The initiative brings together cross-sector partners, community organisations and Birmingham residents around a shared vision: a new way of life in our city.
The launch takes place on Friday 24th and Saturday 25th April at Birmingham Botanical Gardens, with a two-day programme of speakers and an exhibition unveiling 40 community projects spanning the city. Professor Carl Chinn MBE will open the programme on Friday, and Professor Paul Cadman will close it on Saturday – two people who love this city deeply, they both walked alongside Chris on the final Sunday of the Baton Walk, and whose commitment to Birmingham and its communities runs through everything the Brum Biosphere stands for.
BOSF will be there on both days, and on Saturday at 1pm BOSF team members and volunteer Friends Groups will be giving a talk as part of the programme.
The event is free for Birmingham-based community organisations, businesses, Birmingham Botanical Gardens members and valid day-ticket holders.
We hope to see you there – and we hope this website post and the film above gives a sense of why this moment matters so much to us, and to the incredible volunteers who are the heart of Birmingham’s parks and open spaces.
Book your free place at the Brum Biosphere launch: https://brumbiosphere.co.uk/
A Huge Thank You
None of this would have been possible without the warmth, generosity and dedication of every Friends Group, volunteer and community that welcomed Chris and Sukhjit along the way. Across 34 green spaces and four Sundays – sharing your stories and reminding us why this work matters so much. You are the beating heart of Birmingham’s parks and open spaces – and we are incredibly proud to support you all!