AGM 2016
Held at 7.30pm on Thursday 16 June at the Bestwood Lodge Hotel
Friends of Bestwood Country Park: Chair’s report prepared for the
Annual General Meeting on June 16th 2016
This is our ninth AGM, and the end of my fourth year in the post.
At our last AGM, Gill remained in post as treasurer (and so much more!), John Millington was elected vice-chair, and Kay Brown and Rob Carlyle were jointly elected to the post of secretary. I was re-elected as chair. Many thanks also to all of them for their sterling work. Here’s a rough overview of the last year:
Rangers
The ranger team of Steve, Steve and Rob has remained unchanged from last year, with Sue McDonald in the post of Community Liaison Officer, based in the classroom. The small ranger team sees to the general maintenance and conservation work, and also oversee two volunteer groups. Some tree felling work has been undertaken, and the rangers are happy to explain to the public why this is necessary. The woodland management plan was completed and accepted by the Forestry Commission.
The toilets that were opened in 2015 have finally had cold water taps put in; there are still some problems with the drains. The adventure playground is having new fencing installed, and the open end of the camping field will have first post-and-wire fencing and then a hedge planted. The area around the kissing gate near the Dynamo House has been tarmacked, and remedial work at the Mill Lakes has addressed the flooding. There has been some unwelcome motorbike activity in the park, and members of the public are encouraged to report this to the police.
Earlier this year we heard of planned changes to the management of the ranger team. Nottinghamshire County Council hopes that by sharing rangers between Rufford and Bestwood, it will be possible to make savings and/or deploy resources more efficiently. From 1 st June 2016, the two rangers currently based at Bestwood, Rob Wombwell and Steve Dance, will be based at Rufford, and travel to Bestwood. The Bestwood Site Manager, Steve Hulme, will remain based at Alexandra Lodge. Sue will remain based at the classroom (her job already takes her across the county). The two Estate Wardens will remain based at Bestwood, and tools will all remain at Bestwood. The rangers will continue to manage and direct the volunteer groups that are so essential here at Bestwood - but sometimes a Rufford ranger will be one of them, working to the new Bestwood/Rufford rota.
Furthermore, Nottinghamshire County Council, once again under pressure to make savings, has been in negotiations with Gedling, with a view to receiving a bid from Gedling to take over the grounds maintenance of the whole park (GBC currently maintains the smaller area
around the hotel). This is potentially a major change. On behalf of Friends of Bestwood Country Park, our treasurer, Gill, has been in correspondence with Derek Higton at NCC and with Cllr. Pauline Allan, and has raised a number of questions and concerns about what this
might mean for the park. We have had some preliminary replies, but in the absence of a detailed contract proposal, no doubt more questions will arise in due course.
Heritage Officers
Adele Williams continued in this part-time post for a few months, but resigned due to other commitments. We are very appreciative of all that Adele has done to develop activities at the Dynamo House, and her Mini-Miners events continue on a voluntary basis. Meanwhile, Laura Simpson has come over from NCC to take over from Adele. Laura organised the hugely successful Steampunk Day in September – a hard act to follow! Then in December she organised the Victorian mini craft fair (for Stapleford Skills for Employment), which gave young people experience of making and selling their own wares. Despite terrible weather, the young people involved had a very successful day. Laura has a 2-year contract, and is currently on maternity leave, during which time Sue McDonald has overseen activities at the Dynamo House.
Speakers
FoB member Sarah Davenport and Charles Beauclerk, artists in residence at Bestwood Lodge Hotel, came to speak to us in September, in advance of the launch of the “Celebration of the Forest” in November.
Bestwood Development Group
FOB member Councillor Pauline Allan chairs this group. Our next meeting is on July 5th, when we hope to discover more about NCC’s plans for the future of the park.
Councils
Ongoing budget cuts remain a pressing concern, and we have already mentioned the proposed tender for the grounds maintenance of the park. We are fortunate to have Councillors Roy and Pauline Allan as members of FOB, and we continue to work with them to represent the interests of the park. At NCC, Linda Hardy has been a valued source of help and information as has Jason Mordan. Over at Gedling Borough Council, Jane Richardson, Parks Development Officer, has continued to run four task days per year for volunteers in the Gedling area of the park, focusing on the Japanese Gardens near Bestwood Lodge Hotel. Gedling provides tools and equipment, the services of 2 park rangers, and hot drinks for the volunteers. In addition, Gedling has agreed to FOB running additional work days under our own steam. For this, we have had to organise public liability insurance, and local councillors kindly paid for our first year’s premium.
Volunteer Café
The café is open on Saturday mornings and bank holiday Monday mornings (when the Winding Engine House is also open for tours), and also on Sunday afternoons in June, July and August. Our facilities have been greatly improved by the addition of counters for storage and serving, which John and Kevin Millington made and installed. The café continues to be very successful, and has become a popular place for locals (and those from further afield) to meet. In that respect we are a victim of our own success, because it is clear that we need more volunteers to bake and serve. We are enormously grateful to our volunteers, and always welcome new ones.
Once again, we undertook outside catering at the BigBAG event at Brackenhurst earlier this year – many thanks to all the bakers and servers for that event, which was much appreciated. Café volunteers have also helped with other events such as the opening of the MUSA facility, and the Radio Nottingham Big Day Out brought more new visitors to the café. In April and again in May, the café was also visited by the “Sherwood Forest on your doorstep” project, where people joined the poet Dave Woods on his perambulations of the forest boundaries.
At FOB meetings over the past year, we have discussed how to spend the proceeds from the café for the benefit of the park. Gill’s report details what we have spent the money on this year. One of these is The Bestwood Timeline booklet, with afterwords by Bob Gow and Charles Beauclerk, out now and on sale. Also on sale at the café is high-quality bird seed, and we thank John Millington to supplying that.
Other ideas in the pipeline are a new FOB banner, for which Kevin and Richard have taken photos, and wildlife cameras. We are also planning to install a water filter to improve the taste of the tea!
We have continued to have regular charity days, roughly once a quarter, on which the profits from the café that day are donated to a local charity. Gill’s report lists our charities for the last year. We also have regular quarterly fund-raising days for the Winding Engine House volunteer engineers.
Winding Engine House
Visitor numbers have increased as the WEH becomes more widely known. Every Saturday morning, rain or shine, our dedicated volunteers are there. The WEH has had two excellent publicity boosts recently: an interview on Radio Nottingham, with Bob Gow talking about
growing up and working in Bestwood, and what is happening at the WEH now, and also an attractive 2-page spread in a recent county council magazine. Both of these have led to new visitors to the WEH and the park.
Other projects
Kay and Karl applied to the Woodland Trust for grants for tree planting, and these trees have been planted in consultation with the rangers.
Gedling Borough Council has started a forum of Gedling Friends’ groups, and we have met with Friends of Gedling Country Park. Over the past year, we had been looking into the feasibility of a WWI memorial at the Gedling side of the park. Ultimately, we decided not to pursue this, partly because it would duplicate existing memorials elsewhere, and partly because the funding that was available was aimed at community or educational work rather than capital investment in a memorial itself.
More recently, we have been looking into the possibility of extending the kitchen and toilet facilities at the Dynamo House. Jason Mordan has been helping us with bids for funding for a long-term project. We have already secured SLC funding for a large storage container and
kitchen equipment, and we are now looking into plans to physically extend the Dynamo House.
Website www.fbcp.org.uk
We are very grateful to Kay Brown who has developed and maintained the website, and to Ben Moss, who has set up a discussion forum.
Other events
In the past year, FOB has attended the Greenwood Awards, Bestwood Village Fun day, and the Love Parks conference, and we will also be present at Arnold Carnival this weekend. In September we once again took a stall for FOB to the Major Oak Woodland Festival, where over the weekend we sold copies of the tree booklet, and lots of cake, thus publicising the café, the Winding Engine House and the park itself. Thanks to Donna and Peter for manning the stall and letting visitors to Sherwood Forest know about our little niché at the southern end of the forest. We plan to go again this coming September. Sue has started up some extra regular events at the Dynamo House, such as a games afternoon and Knit and Natter. Sue also runs the Thursday volunteers group, and the health walks in the park – and the bat walks, bird walks, “thank you” supper for volunteers and much else besides!
There has been plenty going on, and some big plans ahead. We would be delighted if you would like to get involved at any level – the more volunteers we have, the lighter the load on the usual suspects!
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
16 th June 2016
Annual General Meeting on June 16th 2016
This is our ninth AGM, and the end of my fourth year in the post.
At our last AGM, Gill remained in post as treasurer (and so much more!), John Millington was elected vice-chair, and Kay Brown and Rob Carlyle were jointly elected to the post of secretary. I was re-elected as chair. Many thanks also to all of them for their sterling work. Here’s a rough overview of the last year:
Rangers
The ranger team of Steve, Steve and Rob has remained unchanged from last year, with Sue McDonald in the post of Community Liaison Officer, based in the classroom. The small ranger team sees to the general maintenance and conservation work, and also oversee two volunteer groups. Some tree felling work has been undertaken, and the rangers are happy to explain to the public why this is necessary. The woodland management plan was completed and accepted by the Forestry Commission.
The toilets that were opened in 2015 have finally had cold water taps put in; there are still some problems with the drains. The adventure playground is having new fencing installed, and the open end of the camping field will have first post-and-wire fencing and then a hedge planted. The area around the kissing gate near the Dynamo House has been tarmacked, and remedial work at the Mill Lakes has addressed the flooding. There has been some unwelcome motorbike activity in the park, and members of the public are encouraged to report this to the police.
Earlier this year we heard of planned changes to the management of the ranger team. Nottinghamshire County Council hopes that by sharing rangers between Rufford and Bestwood, it will be possible to make savings and/or deploy resources more efficiently. From 1 st June 2016, the two rangers currently based at Bestwood, Rob Wombwell and Steve Dance, will be based at Rufford, and travel to Bestwood. The Bestwood Site Manager, Steve Hulme, will remain based at Alexandra Lodge. Sue will remain based at the classroom (her job already takes her across the county). The two Estate Wardens will remain based at Bestwood, and tools will all remain at Bestwood. The rangers will continue to manage and direct the volunteer groups that are so essential here at Bestwood - but sometimes a Rufford ranger will be one of them, working to the new Bestwood/Rufford rota.
Furthermore, Nottinghamshire County Council, once again under pressure to make savings, has been in negotiations with Gedling, with a view to receiving a bid from Gedling to take over the grounds maintenance of the whole park (GBC currently maintains the smaller area
around the hotel). This is potentially a major change. On behalf of Friends of Bestwood Country Park, our treasurer, Gill, has been in correspondence with Derek Higton at NCC and with Cllr. Pauline Allan, and has raised a number of questions and concerns about what this
might mean for the park. We have had some preliminary replies, but in the absence of a detailed contract proposal, no doubt more questions will arise in due course.
Heritage Officers
Adele Williams continued in this part-time post for a few months, but resigned due to other commitments. We are very appreciative of all that Adele has done to develop activities at the Dynamo House, and her Mini-Miners events continue on a voluntary basis. Meanwhile, Laura Simpson has come over from NCC to take over from Adele. Laura organised the hugely successful Steampunk Day in September – a hard act to follow! Then in December she organised the Victorian mini craft fair (for Stapleford Skills for Employment), which gave young people experience of making and selling their own wares. Despite terrible weather, the young people involved had a very successful day. Laura has a 2-year contract, and is currently on maternity leave, during which time Sue McDonald has overseen activities at the Dynamo House.
Speakers
FoB member Sarah Davenport and Charles Beauclerk, artists in residence at Bestwood Lodge Hotel, came to speak to us in September, in advance of the launch of the “Celebration of the Forest” in November.
Bestwood Development Group
FOB member Councillor Pauline Allan chairs this group. Our next meeting is on July 5th, when we hope to discover more about NCC’s plans for the future of the park.
Councils
Ongoing budget cuts remain a pressing concern, and we have already mentioned the proposed tender for the grounds maintenance of the park. We are fortunate to have Councillors Roy and Pauline Allan as members of FOB, and we continue to work with them to represent the interests of the park. At NCC, Linda Hardy has been a valued source of help and information as has Jason Mordan. Over at Gedling Borough Council, Jane Richardson, Parks Development Officer, has continued to run four task days per year for volunteers in the Gedling area of the park, focusing on the Japanese Gardens near Bestwood Lodge Hotel. Gedling provides tools and equipment, the services of 2 park rangers, and hot drinks for the volunteers. In addition, Gedling has agreed to FOB running additional work days under our own steam. For this, we have had to organise public liability insurance, and local councillors kindly paid for our first year’s premium.
Volunteer Café
The café is open on Saturday mornings and bank holiday Monday mornings (when the Winding Engine House is also open for tours), and also on Sunday afternoons in June, July and August. Our facilities have been greatly improved by the addition of counters for storage and serving, which John and Kevin Millington made and installed. The café continues to be very successful, and has become a popular place for locals (and those from further afield) to meet. In that respect we are a victim of our own success, because it is clear that we need more volunteers to bake and serve. We are enormously grateful to our volunteers, and always welcome new ones.
Once again, we undertook outside catering at the BigBAG event at Brackenhurst earlier this year – many thanks to all the bakers and servers for that event, which was much appreciated. Café volunteers have also helped with other events such as the opening of the MUSA facility, and the Radio Nottingham Big Day Out brought more new visitors to the café. In April and again in May, the café was also visited by the “Sherwood Forest on your doorstep” project, where people joined the poet Dave Woods on his perambulations of the forest boundaries.
At FOB meetings over the past year, we have discussed how to spend the proceeds from the café for the benefit of the park. Gill’s report details what we have spent the money on this year. One of these is The Bestwood Timeline booklet, with afterwords by Bob Gow and Charles Beauclerk, out now and on sale. Also on sale at the café is high-quality bird seed, and we thank John Millington to supplying that.
Other ideas in the pipeline are a new FOB banner, for which Kevin and Richard have taken photos, and wildlife cameras. We are also planning to install a water filter to improve the taste of the tea!
We have continued to have regular charity days, roughly once a quarter, on which the profits from the café that day are donated to a local charity. Gill’s report lists our charities for the last year. We also have regular quarterly fund-raising days for the Winding Engine House volunteer engineers.
Winding Engine House
Visitor numbers have increased as the WEH becomes more widely known. Every Saturday morning, rain or shine, our dedicated volunteers are there. The WEH has had two excellent publicity boosts recently: an interview on Radio Nottingham, with Bob Gow talking about
growing up and working in Bestwood, and what is happening at the WEH now, and also an attractive 2-page spread in a recent county council magazine. Both of these have led to new visitors to the WEH and the park.
Other projects
Kay and Karl applied to the Woodland Trust for grants for tree planting, and these trees have been planted in consultation with the rangers.
Gedling Borough Council has started a forum of Gedling Friends’ groups, and we have met with Friends of Gedling Country Park. Over the past year, we had been looking into the feasibility of a WWI memorial at the Gedling side of the park. Ultimately, we decided not to pursue this, partly because it would duplicate existing memorials elsewhere, and partly because the funding that was available was aimed at community or educational work rather than capital investment in a memorial itself.
More recently, we have been looking into the possibility of extending the kitchen and toilet facilities at the Dynamo House. Jason Mordan has been helping us with bids for funding for a long-term project. We have already secured SLC funding for a large storage container and
kitchen equipment, and we are now looking into plans to physically extend the Dynamo House.
Website www.fbcp.org.uk
We are very grateful to Kay Brown who has developed and maintained the website, and to Ben Moss, who has set up a discussion forum.
Other events
In the past year, FOB has attended the Greenwood Awards, Bestwood Village Fun day, and the Love Parks conference, and we will also be present at Arnold Carnival this weekend. In September we once again took a stall for FOB to the Major Oak Woodland Festival, where over the weekend we sold copies of the tree booklet, and lots of cake, thus publicising the café, the Winding Engine House and the park itself. Thanks to Donna and Peter for manning the stall and letting visitors to Sherwood Forest know about our little niché at the southern end of the forest. We plan to go again this coming September. Sue has started up some extra regular events at the Dynamo House, such as a games afternoon and Knit and Natter. Sue also runs the Thursday volunteers group, and the health walks in the park – and the bat walks, bird walks, “thank you” supper for volunteers and much else besides!
There has been plenty going on, and some big plans ahead. We would be delighted if you would like to get involved at any level – the more volunteers we have, the lighter the load on the usual suspects!
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
16 th June 2016
