AGM 2013
Held at 7.30pm on Thursday 20 June at the Bestwood Lodge Hotel
_
Friends of Bestwood Country Park: Chair’s report
prepared for the
Annual General Meeting on June 20th 2013
Annual General Meeting on June 20th 2013
_
This is
our sixth AGM. This time last year, Roger presented an impressive
account of the year’s events and achievements in his role as
secretary; this Chair’s report will necessarily be a pale
imitation.
At our last AGM, Roger stepped down as secretary – to our great disappointment, although we are relieved that he is still around, and helping with distribution and other work in the background. Indeed, we are still looking for a permanent secretary. Penny has been an enormous help in producing the minutes for us since then, with Glynis also helping out here.
Jane Smith stepped down as chair, and I took that role on for this year. I am greatly relieved that Gill has remained as treasurer, as she does so much more for the group than just that.
Since our last AGM in June 2012, many of our activities have involved developing partnerships with others who have an interest in the park.
Rangers
The threatened dismantling of the ranger team was a major trigger for our campaigning efforts in the last couple of years. Most importantly, the ranger team based in the park has been retained, albeit reduced in size. If nothing else, we have succeeded in convincing the powers that be that the rangers’ expertise is essential in securing the future of the park. Sue McDonald was appointed Community Liaison Officer, and is now based in the classroom. She has tackled this role with gusto, and it is of course an enormous plus that she comes with many years of experience as a ranger in the park. The wonderful potential for the park to be used as an educational resource for local schools and environmental education groups such as Wild Things has however been hampered for the last year by the lack of toilets, since the arson attack in 2012. We are still pressing the county council to provide suitable replacements.
Heritage officers
Thanks to funding from the Heritage Lottery Fund, David Amos and Adele Williams have been appointed as Heritage Development Officers, and are based in the Dynamo House. Their presence will no doubt raise the profile of the park and attract visitors.
Speakers
We are always keen to host speakers at our meetings. Last September Alan McCormick talked to us about the recent discovery of a medieval map of the park, which contains numerous place names that had hitherto been unknown. We hope to have Sue McDonald giving a talk on invasive species in the near future.
Artists
Last autumn the photographer Katja Hock used Bestwood Country Park as a centrepiece for her exhibition at the University of Nottingham Angear Gallery, and led two associated walks through the park. In spring of this year, the artist Sandy Bywater put on the “Spring into Bestwood” days at the Dynamo House, which currently still has decorations from that event.
Bestwood Development Group
This was established by Patrick Candler of NCC in response to the huge outcry at the threat to the park, and draws its membership from our group, the winding engine house volunteers, local councils and other interested parties. Patrick has meanwhile left NCC, and some of his duties are taken on by Steve Bradley. The meetings are still chaired by Councillor Chris Barnfather.
Councils
Some local councillors have provided enormous support. We should mention Ged Clarke, who stepped down at the last elections, and who supported us in several local improvement scheme applications, and County Councillor Chris Barnfather, who made funding contributions. Within the last year, Jane Richardson from Gedling BC has been very active on behalf of the park, having met with us to walk around parts of the park, and having organised several volunteer work days in the Japanese Gardens and surroundings, which have made a spectacular difference. Jane organised tools and equipment, hot drinks, and even hobnobs! We were joined on those days by Gedling councillors too, including Pauline and Roy Allan – who now also sit on the county council, and the BDG. It would perhaps be far-fetched to suggest that their work with us has been a springboard to their elevation to the county council – but maybe we can hope that they are now even better placed to help ensure the future of the park!
LIS
Councillors have also helped Gill put in bids for funding from the Local Improvement Scheme on our behalf. The current LIS grant has provided new benches near the Japanese gardens, and work has been completed to repair a wall and renovate the long stone flight of steps near the hotel. Work is also scheduled to be carried out on the car park at the Gedling end of the park. We are compiling applications for the 2014/15 financial year too, relating to the arboretum and the WEH.
Volunteer café
The idea of a café for visitors to the park was first raised at the BDG, and Gill and I started it up as a trial run last July. Cllr Barnfather cleared red tape out of the way to enable us to use the Dynamo House, and funded first aid training for some volunteers. The volunteers at the winding engine house were very helpful in opening the building up for us. Although we intended to run the café just on Saturday mornings in the summer, it was so popular that it was decided to continue it throughout the year. Many people have commented on how the café forms a focus for all sorts of different people, and very soon the Women’s Institute joined us on the volunteer rota. Their enthusiasm is a delight – as are, of course, their cakes. Sue ordered café tables and chairs, and Cllr Barnfather provided a grant to the WI to purchase equipment, so the café now benefits from cake stands, a large coffee machine, tablecloths and more. The café has generated an income stream that we had not previously envisaged, so that we have recently been able to make a donation to the rangers to provide ten new bench sets in the park. The café has also been open on Bank Holiday Mondays recently, with craft stalls as an added attraction. We can already see that the existence of the café has the potential to put other individuals and groups in touch with the FoBCP, such as the Nordic Walkers run by Glynis.
Other events
Roger Williams has attended a couple of information days on HLF and LIS funding opportunities on our behalf, and we appreciate the work he is still doing for us despite having stepped down as secretary. His sterling efforts over the years were recognised at the 2012 Friends of Greenwood Community Forest Awards ceremony.
The FoBCP sponsored a page in the Bestwood Village calendar this year, submitting a photo taken by Sean Tobin. Sales of the calendars raised funds too.
In late January, a Bestwood Heritage day was held at the WEH. This was run by Holly Godward, a local history student, and aimed to collect snippets of local history and reminiscences of the area for her dissertation.
We have taken information stalls to other events, including the Bandstand Challenge and Rise Park open day; we are always keen to bring in other users of the park. The most recent large-scale event was the Big Lunch on June 2nd, an initiative from Veolia, and many thanks are due to Sue for her hard work beforehand, as well as to David and Adele on the day.
Website
Let’s close with news of our new website, a thing of beauty conjured and nurtured by Kay Brown, with help from Ben Moss and Ken Wake, to take us forward into our next year. Please take a look at www.fbcp.org.uk.
As ever, thanks to the staff at Bestwood Lodge Hotel for allowing us to use their premises for our monthly meetings, and their kindness in making us comfortable.
Margret Vince
Chair, Friends of Bestwood Country Park
19th June 2013
At our last AGM, Roger stepped down as secretary – to our great disappointment, although we are relieved that he is still around, and helping with distribution and other work in the background. Indeed, we are still looking for a permanent secretary. Penny has been an enormous help in producing the minutes for us since then, with Glynis also helping out here.
Jane Smith stepped down as chair, and I took that role on for this year. I am greatly relieved that Gill has remained as treasurer, as she does so much more for the group than just that.
Since our last AGM in June 2012, many of our activities have involved developing partnerships with others who have an interest in the park.
Rangers
The threatened dismantling of the ranger team was a major trigger for our campaigning efforts in the last couple of years. Most importantly, the ranger team based in the park has been retained, albeit reduced in size. If nothing else, we have succeeded in convincing the powers that be that the rangers’ expertise is essential in securing the future of the park. Sue McDonald was appointed Community Liaison Officer, and is now based in the classroom. She has tackled this role with gusto, and it is of course an enormous plus that she comes with many years of experience as a ranger in the park. The wonderful potential for the park to be used as an educational resource for local schools and environmental education groups such as Wild Things has however been hampered for the last year by the lack of toilets, since the arson attack in 2012. We are still pressing the county council to provide suitable replacements.
Heritage officers
Thanks to funding from the Heritage Lottery Fund, David Amos and Adele Williams have been appointed as Heritage Development Officers, and are based in the Dynamo House. Their presence will no doubt raise the profile of the park and attract visitors.
Speakers
We are always keen to host speakers at our meetings. Last September Alan McCormick talked to us about the recent discovery of a medieval map of the park, which contains numerous place names that had hitherto been unknown. We hope to have Sue McDonald giving a talk on invasive species in the near future.
Artists
Last autumn the photographer Katja Hock used Bestwood Country Park as a centrepiece for her exhibition at the University of Nottingham Angear Gallery, and led two associated walks through the park. In spring of this year, the artist Sandy Bywater put on the “Spring into Bestwood” days at the Dynamo House, which currently still has decorations from that event.
Bestwood Development Group
This was established by Patrick Candler of NCC in response to the huge outcry at the threat to the park, and draws its membership from our group, the winding engine house volunteers, local councils and other interested parties. Patrick has meanwhile left NCC, and some of his duties are taken on by Steve Bradley. The meetings are still chaired by Councillor Chris Barnfather.
Councils
Some local councillors have provided enormous support. We should mention Ged Clarke, who stepped down at the last elections, and who supported us in several local improvement scheme applications, and County Councillor Chris Barnfather, who made funding contributions. Within the last year, Jane Richardson from Gedling BC has been very active on behalf of the park, having met with us to walk around parts of the park, and having organised several volunteer work days in the Japanese Gardens and surroundings, which have made a spectacular difference. Jane organised tools and equipment, hot drinks, and even hobnobs! We were joined on those days by Gedling councillors too, including Pauline and Roy Allan – who now also sit on the county council, and the BDG. It would perhaps be far-fetched to suggest that their work with us has been a springboard to their elevation to the county council – but maybe we can hope that they are now even better placed to help ensure the future of the park!
LIS
Councillors have also helped Gill put in bids for funding from the Local Improvement Scheme on our behalf. The current LIS grant has provided new benches near the Japanese gardens, and work has been completed to repair a wall and renovate the long stone flight of steps near the hotel. Work is also scheduled to be carried out on the car park at the Gedling end of the park. We are compiling applications for the 2014/15 financial year too, relating to the arboretum and the WEH.
Volunteer café
The idea of a café for visitors to the park was first raised at the BDG, and Gill and I started it up as a trial run last July. Cllr Barnfather cleared red tape out of the way to enable us to use the Dynamo House, and funded first aid training for some volunteers. The volunteers at the winding engine house were very helpful in opening the building up for us. Although we intended to run the café just on Saturday mornings in the summer, it was so popular that it was decided to continue it throughout the year. Many people have commented on how the café forms a focus for all sorts of different people, and very soon the Women’s Institute joined us on the volunteer rota. Their enthusiasm is a delight – as are, of course, their cakes. Sue ordered café tables and chairs, and Cllr Barnfather provided a grant to the WI to purchase equipment, so the café now benefits from cake stands, a large coffee machine, tablecloths and more. The café has generated an income stream that we had not previously envisaged, so that we have recently been able to make a donation to the rangers to provide ten new bench sets in the park. The café has also been open on Bank Holiday Mondays recently, with craft stalls as an added attraction. We can already see that the existence of the café has the potential to put other individuals and groups in touch with the FoBCP, such as the Nordic Walkers run by Glynis.
Other events
Roger Williams has attended a couple of information days on HLF and LIS funding opportunities on our behalf, and we appreciate the work he is still doing for us despite having stepped down as secretary. His sterling efforts over the years were recognised at the 2012 Friends of Greenwood Community Forest Awards ceremony.
The FoBCP sponsored a page in the Bestwood Village calendar this year, submitting a photo taken by Sean Tobin. Sales of the calendars raised funds too.
In late January, a Bestwood Heritage day was held at the WEH. This was run by Holly Godward, a local history student, and aimed to collect snippets of local history and reminiscences of the area for her dissertation.
We have taken information stalls to other events, including the Bandstand Challenge and Rise Park open day; we are always keen to bring in other users of the park. The most recent large-scale event was the Big Lunch on June 2nd, an initiative from Veolia, and many thanks are due to Sue for her hard work beforehand, as well as to David and Adele on the day.
Website
Let’s close with news of our new website, a thing of beauty conjured and nurtured by Kay Brown, with help from Ben Moss and Ken Wake, to take us forward into our next year. Please take a look at www.fbcp.org.uk.
As ever, thanks to the staff at Bestwood Lodge Hotel for allowing us to use their premises for our monthly meetings, and their kindness in making us comfortable.
Margret Vince
Chair, Friends of Bestwood Country Park
19th June 2013
