AGM 2014
Held at 7.30pm on Thursday 19 June at the Bestwood Lodge Hotel
Friends of Bestwood Country Park: Chair's report prepared for the
Annual General Meeting on June 19th 2014
Annual General Meeting on June 19th 2014
This is our seventh AGM. This is the end of my second year in the post, and certainly time seems to have flown, and a great deal has happened in the last year. At our last AGM, Penny was elected as secretary, and I am very grateful to her for her sterling work in preparing the minutes and agenda conscientiously every month.
Gill has remained as treasurer, although that title hardly even begins to do justice to the range of work she undertakes for FoBCP.
Here’s a rough overview of the last year:
Rangers
The ranger team remains based in the park, with Sue McDonald, as Community Liaison Officer, based nearby in the classroom. With a much smaller team than hitherto, the rangers have had to work very hard to maintain the park we know and love. Recent spates of fire setting, and in particular the vandalism of the wooden fencing around the playground and the camping field, have made their work much harder. Another consequence of the fire-setting is that Jason Sewell feels he can no longer hold his popular sweat lodges in the park. This leaves Nottingham Goddess Camp as the only user of the camping field. Educational work in the park is still undertaken by Sue, and by groups such as Wild Things, but this has been hampered for years now by the lack of toilets, since the arson attack in 2011. They have now been rebuilt, and I believe they were finally opened last week.
On the positive side, new waymarker posts have been installed, and the rangers have produced their annual Natural History Review, which is available from them at a cost of £5.
Meanwhile, preparatory work for a 5-year conservation plan is being carried out in the park by Zoe Jackson, who also consulted Gill.
There is plenty of volunteer work going on in the park, with the Monday volunteers working alongside the rangers, and Thursday volunteers working with Sue.
Heritage officers
David and Adele, based in the Dynamo House, have thrown themselves into their roles with great enthusiasm, coming up with many varied activities to attract visitors to the Winding Engine House and the park. I can’t begin to list everything that David and Adele have achieved, but I would like to mention the volunteering video which Trent University students produced, with their cooperation; David’s history of coal in 10 objects and his book on the miners of Nottinghamshire, the steam heritage day and the now regular mini-miners’ days.
Speakers
We are always keen to host speakers at our meetings. In the past year, we have had the opportunity to hear from Andy Gaunt and Sean from the Mercia Archaeological Projects. They think that the mound predates the Japanese gardens, and a possible future project could involve the digging an area of a square metre (1.2m deep), saving and sifting the soil for pottery and other remnants. Sue Mc Donald has given a talk on invasive species, and Roy Allan has talked to our group about Aligned Core Strategies, housing plans, and how this might affect the environs of the park.
Bestwood Development Group
The meetings are now chaired by Councillor Pauline Allan. There was a considerable gap between meetings this spring, but we are back on track now. One positive aspect of these meetings is that they offer an opportunity to discuss with councillors and council officers various ideas for what can be done to improve the park and its profile. In the past year, work has been going on behind the scenes in preparation for a new set of by-laws for the park.
Councils
Some local councillors have provided enormous support. We should mention fellow FoBCP members Roy and Pauline Allan, who have helped to fund the photography artwork for the “Trees of Bestwood” booklet, and also got their hands (and knees!) dirty on our volunteer work days. They have also funded bulbs for planting.
These were organised by Jane Richardson, parks development officer at Gedling BC. Jane organised tools and equipment, the services of 2 park rangers, and tea and biscuits for the volunteers. Two more work days are scheduled in 2014, and I would like to thank Jane not only for organising these, but also for the enthusiastic effort she puts in herself.
Jane also organised a poppy planting session on Woodchurch Road: ordering the seeds and again providing the equipment.
Recently, some concern has been circulating about the position of country parks – and Bestwood in particular – within Nottinghamshire Country Council’s priorities. Roy and Pauline themselves are, we know, very committed to securing the future of the park, and we wish them well in doing what they can to further our aims within NCC plans and budgets.
LIS
In the past year, this scheme, from which the park has benefited greatly in the past, has come to an end. Our current proposal, for which funding had been agreed, was abruptly cancelled shortly before completion of the work. This left the last part of work on the Gedling-side car park unfinished. An appeal to Alex Price by Gill resulted in the means being found to install the traffic flow plates after all – although they are not in service due to lack of signage. The scheme that replaces LIS (SLC: “Supporting Local Communities) appears to be geared towards economic development or job creation, and we may struggle to meet its criteria, although we have been offered advice here by NCC at the recent BDG meeting.
Volunteer Café
The café has gone from strength to strength in its second year. We now open on bank holiday Mondays, and we have this month started opening on Sunday afternoons. The café is now attracting visitors from further afield, with many visitors returning to look at the mine that they remembered, and share their recollections, and many more just delighted to have somewhere to relax after a walk in the park. All this is possible only with the help of our volunteers, and most particularly the people – mostly from the WI – who raise the café’s profile with their expert baking. We even undertook outside catering at the BigBAG event at Brackenhurst earlier this year.
Thanks also to John Millington, for organising the high-quality bird now on sale at the Dynamo House.
The money that has been raised has enabled FoBCP to fund the printing of the “Trees of Bestwood” booklet, which Sue McDonald and Emma Woodrow produced. These are on sale at cost price (£1). The café profits have also allowed us to fund replacement bench sets which the rangers can install in the park as needed.
Within the last year, we have introduced charity days, roughly once a quarter, on which the profits from the café that day are donated to a local charity. In the last year, we have supported Macmillan’s, Save Sherwood Forest, Notts. and Lincs. Air Ambulance, and we now also plan to have regular quarterly fundraising days for the Winding Engine House volunteer engineers.
Website www.fbcp.org.uk
The website, developed and maintained by Kay Brown, is becoming increasingly popular. It’s great to be able to refer inquirers to it.
Other events
In the past year, housing development plans for Bestwood Village have been submitted by two developers, St Modwen and Langridge. St Modwen consulted with FoBCP and other village representatives; these plans relate to a brownfield site previously occupied by a business park, and display some sensitivity to the impact on the park. The more recent proposal by Langridge concerns plans to build on white field land, with an explicit view to encroaching on greenbelt land. Needless to say, we view this proposal with some concern. Gill has lodged an objection on our behalf, on conservation grounds.
Another initiative of ours over the past year has involved plans for a WWI memorial, including replacement of the large copper beech that had stood in the turning circle of the hotel car park. It appears that the hotel’s own plans have scuppered that, but we are working on an alternative.
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
Gill has remained as treasurer, although that title hardly even begins to do justice to the range of work she undertakes for FoBCP.
Here’s a rough overview of the last year:
Rangers
The ranger team remains based in the park, with Sue McDonald, as Community Liaison Officer, based nearby in the classroom. With a much smaller team than hitherto, the rangers have had to work very hard to maintain the park we know and love. Recent spates of fire setting, and in particular the vandalism of the wooden fencing around the playground and the camping field, have made their work much harder. Another consequence of the fire-setting is that Jason Sewell feels he can no longer hold his popular sweat lodges in the park. This leaves Nottingham Goddess Camp as the only user of the camping field. Educational work in the park is still undertaken by Sue, and by groups such as Wild Things, but this has been hampered for years now by the lack of toilets, since the arson attack in 2011. They have now been rebuilt, and I believe they were finally opened last week.
On the positive side, new waymarker posts have been installed, and the rangers have produced their annual Natural History Review, which is available from them at a cost of £5.
Meanwhile, preparatory work for a 5-year conservation plan is being carried out in the park by Zoe Jackson, who also consulted Gill.
There is plenty of volunteer work going on in the park, with the Monday volunteers working alongside the rangers, and Thursday volunteers working with Sue.
Heritage officers
David and Adele, based in the Dynamo House, have thrown themselves into their roles with great enthusiasm, coming up with many varied activities to attract visitors to the Winding Engine House and the park. I can’t begin to list everything that David and Adele have achieved, but I would like to mention the volunteering video which Trent University students produced, with their cooperation; David’s history of coal in 10 objects and his book on the miners of Nottinghamshire, the steam heritage day and the now regular mini-miners’ days.
Speakers
We are always keen to host speakers at our meetings. In the past year, we have had the opportunity to hear from Andy Gaunt and Sean from the Mercia Archaeological Projects. They think that the mound predates the Japanese gardens, and a possible future project could involve the digging an area of a square metre (1.2m deep), saving and sifting the soil for pottery and other remnants. Sue Mc Donald has given a talk on invasive species, and Roy Allan has talked to our group about Aligned Core Strategies, housing plans, and how this might affect the environs of the park.
Bestwood Development Group
The meetings are now chaired by Councillor Pauline Allan. There was a considerable gap between meetings this spring, but we are back on track now. One positive aspect of these meetings is that they offer an opportunity to discuss with councillors and council officers various ideas for what can be done to improve the park and its profile. In the past year, work has been going on behind the scenes in preparation for a new set of by-laws for the park.
Councils
Some local councillors have provided enormous support. We should mention fellow FoBCP members Roy and Pauline Allan, who have helped to fund the photography artwork for the “Trees of Bestwood” booklet, and also got their hands (and knees!) dirty on our volunteer work days. They have also funded bulbs for planting.
These were organised by Jane Richardson, parks development officer at Gedling BC. Jane organised tools and equipment, the services of 2 park rangers, and tea and biscuits for the volunteers. Two more work days are scheduled in 2014, and I would like to thank Jane not only for organising these, but also for the enthusiastic effort she puts in herself.
Jane also organised a poppy planting session on Woodchurch Road: ordering the seeds and again providing the equipment.
Recently, some concern has been circulating about the position of country parks – and Bestwood in particular – within Nottinghamshire Country Council’s priorities. Roy and Pauline themselves are, we know, very committed to securing the future of the park, and we wish them well in doing what they can to further our aims within NCC plans and budgets.
LIS
In the past year, this scheme, from which the park has benefited greatly in the past, has come to an end. Our current proposal, for which funding had been agreed, was abruptly cancelled shortly before completion of the work. This left the last part of work on the Gedling-side car park unfinished. An appeal to Alex Price by Gill resulted in the means being found to install the traffic flow plates after all – although they are not in service due to lack of signage. The scheme that replaces LIS (SLC: “Supporting Local Communities) appears to be geared towards economic development or job creation, and we may struggle to meet its criteria, although we have been offered advice here by NCC at the recent BDG meeting.
Volunteer Café
The café has gone from strength to strength in its second year. We now open on bank holiday Mondays, and we have this month started opening on Sunday afternoons. The café is now attracting visitors from further afield, with many visitors returning to look at the mine that they remembered, and share their recollections, and many more just delighted to have somewhere to relax after a walk in the park. All this is possible only with the help of our volunteers, and most particularly the people – mostly from the WI – who raise the café’s profile with their expert baking. We even undertook outside catering at the BigBAG event at Brackenhurst earlier this year.
Thanks also to John Millington, for organising the high-quality bird now on sale at the Dynamo House.
The money that has been raised has enabled FoBCP to fund the printing of the “Trees of Bestwood” booklet, which Sue McDonald and Emma Woodrow produced. These are on sale at cost price (£1). The café profits have also allowed us to fund replacement bench sets which the rangers can install in the park as needed.
Within the last year, we have introduced charity days, roughly once a quarter, on which the profits from the café that day are donated to a local charity. In the last year, we have supported Macmillan’s, Save Sherwood Forest, Notts. and Lincs. Air Ambulance, and we now also plan to have regular quarterly fundraising days for the Winding Engine House volunteer engineers.
Website www.fbcp.org.uk
The website, developed and maintained by Kay Brown, is becoming increasingly popular. It’s great to be able to refer inquirers to it.
Other events
In the past year, housing development plans for Bestwood Village have been submitted by two developers, St Modwen and Langridge. St Modwen consulted with FoBCP and other village representatives; these plans relate to a brownfield site previously occupied by a business park, and display some sensitivity to the impact on the park. The more recent proposal by Langridge concerns plans to build on white field land, with an explicit view to encroaching on greenbelt land. Needless to say, we view this proposal with some concern. Gill has lodged an objection on our behalf, on conservation grounds.
Another initiative of ours over the past year has involved plans for a WWI memorial, including replacement of the large copper beech that had stood in the turning circle of the hotel car park. It appears that the hotel’s own plans have scuppered that, but we are working on an alternative.
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
