Time seems to have flown over the summer months, so we thought we should give a brief update of what’s been happening in the park, since the last post (way back in June!).
Update Includes:
- Open Day
- Miss Rose’s garden
- Allotment Status
- Southern Boundary Wall
- On-going Work
- Anti-Social Behaviour
- Thank you
Open Day
The Community Open Day was a great success. We had lovely feedback from the visitors, stall holders, entertainers, and the great band of volunteers (not forgetting the cake makers of course!). As a community event the intent was never to make money, but in the end we made just over £400 profit, so a massive thankyou to everyone who came and contributed. Most of all, our thanks go to Mel for all her organising, she did a fantastic job.
Unfortunately the video of the event is too large for our website, but you should be able to see it on our Facebook page, via the following link – https://fb.watch/mZsGuXKlRc/.
Miss Rose’s Garden
During the Open day we also had the official opening of Miss Rose’s Garden. We still have a little work to do but I’m sure you’ll all join us in passing our thanks onto Isla, who has done a wonderful job selecting and planting the area. The flowers have been wonderful. The butterflies have certainly enjoyed it.
Allotment Status
The allotment area is still very much a work in progress. We have removed one of the sheds as well as most of the iron work, wire and rubbish. From our initial short term plan we still need to remove the old compost heaps, add a gate to the entrance and complete the dead hedge on the Southern boundary. Longer term our initial thoughts are to keep most of the wild area, although a few of the trees are old and rotten so they may be removed / thinned out this winter. In the open area we are going to remove the bramble roots and rotavate. Initially this area will probably be sown with wildflower seeds. That said, especially for the longer term, we are open to any ideas on what we could do with the allotment (local school involvement was one idea) so please drop us a line if you have any suggestions. Please bear in mind it is still officially classed as an allotment, so we need to be cognisant of that fact and abide by the council’s allotment rules.
Southern Boundary Wall
There is good news regarding the bus stop section of the Southern boundary wall (Yarborough Rd) in that the County Council has assumed ownership and have placed a repair scheme on their forward planned work for 2024/2025. At this stage we’re not sure how this affects the remaining section of lower wall towards the city centre.
On-Going Work
The park seems to have enjoyed the mixed summer weather with everything shooting up. Hopefully you agree the volunteers have managed to keep on top of it. As things start to die back the late Summer / Autumn tidy up will beginning. Unfortunately we have several dead trees around the park. We will review these to see if they need felling this winter or not.
Most recently we have begun repair of some of the broken / deteriorated steps. Whilst this work never finishes we hope to have this phase of repairs completed by the end of Autumn. This includes topping up those steps that have lost gravel and now have a ledge at the front We hope to start work on the performance area this autumn/winter. The intention is to do this in stages, starting with the top path.
Anti-Social Behaviour
After a summer of very little vandalism / damage (mainly branches being broken off the fruit trees) we have suffered in the last week with the performance area picnic bench being damaged again. We are looking at the possibility of adding a security camera to this area, although positioning is difficult.
We also recognise we have a continuing problem with drug dealing. If anyone sees / has evidence of this activity can we ask you report it to the police. Whilst we recognise police resources are extremely stretched, we can at least make sure these events are recorded. Please don’t do anything which may put yourselves at risk.
Thankyou
Finally, as always we send our thanks to all the volunteers and contributors that help us maintain the park. For all our local community and external visitors many thanks for all your comments, views and suggestions, please don’t hesitate to contact us with any concerns / ideas you may have.
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