European Parks Contest

A UK local authority owned park has beaten off stiff competition from five other countries and been officially crowned Europe’s Best Park.

In October Pollok Country Park in Glasgow won the Briggs & Stratton Britain’s Best Park competition against entries from across the UK. As the British national winner it automatically went forward to be judged against other Best Park winners from France, Germany, Italy, Poland and Sweden.

“Our team of judges are gardening experts drawn from the British media and we are not allowed to vote on our own entry in the European competition. Pollok won almost unanimous support from judges in the other five countries and is the first UK park to win the title,” explained Briggs & Stratton’s business development manager, Ian Small.

He presented the European Trophy to Glasgow City Council’s executive member for land and environmental services, Councillor Ruth Simpson, at a special ceremony in the park on 26th, February 2008.

A key element in the judged decision was the obvious pride that park personnel take in their care of the 361-acre site. Councillor Simpson told the audience: “Pollok has more than 2 million visitors a year – where else can you spend a day in the country in the heart of a city?”

Briggs & Stratton will begin the hunt to find Britain’s Best Park 2008 in April when entries from local authorities, park groups and the public can submit their entries. Information on this can be found at www.britainsbestparks.co.uk.

About Briggs & Stratton Corporation

Briggs & Stratton is the world’s largest manufacturer of air-cooled 4-cycle petrol engines for outdoor power equipment, including lawnmowers, generators and pressure washers, as well as many industrial/commercial applications. Established in 1908 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA, the company now designs, manufactures, markets and services these products for original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) in over 100 countries all over the world. Briggs & Stratton has a long-standing commitment to protect the environment and through continuous R&D investments has reduced the emissions produced by its engines by almost 75 percent since 1990. For the fiscal year ended July 1, 2007, group net sales amounted to US$ 2,1 billion (approximately € 1,5 billion). www.briggsandstratton.com