Parks & Open Spaces Unit – A Look Back at 2008
An update on what’s been happening in the Borough’s Parks, Gardens & Green Spaces throughout 2008.
Rodwell Trail
Projects funded by the Friends of Rodwell Trail
· Printing of 2,000 more Cyril the Squirrel quiz leaflets.
· British Trust for Conservation Volunteers (BCTV) cut back vegetation at the Old Wyke Halt platform.
Volunteer Projects
· 3 litter picks organised by the Friends.
· The Friends organised a vegetation clearance at Sandsfoot Halt.
Partnership Working
· The Ridgeway Centre continues to litter pick on a weekly basis (from Buxton Road bridge to Ferrybridge end of Trail).
· The Wipeout Graffiti Team carry out regular ‘graffiti’ clear-ups along the Trail.
Events
· Friends support the Mayor’s Charity Walk by manning checkpoint & carrying out marshalling duties.
· The Friends organised 4 nature & historical identification days.
· TV presenter, Julia Bradbury, has been filming about/walking along the Rodwell Trail with ex-Chair of the Friends group, David Carter, for a programme that went out in the autumn.
Sandsfoot Gardens
The constitution of the Friends of Rodwell Trail now specifically includes Sandsfoot Castle and Gardens.
Externally Funded Projects
· The West Weymouth Conservation Society disbanded this summer and to dispose of their final funds they donated £2,500 to enable the pond at Sandsfoot Gardens to be cleaned out and a brand new fountain installed.
· The Sandsfoot Garden café owners have agreed to fund the daily operation of the new fountain.
· A new replacement Palm tree was funded by a member of the public.
· 2 new seats were installed to replace existing. Both seats are donated.
Continued….
Nothe Gardens
Breathing Places Lottery Bid
· An ecological survey and management plan has been completed by the Dorset Wildlife Trust.
· 6 new flora, fauna, etc interpretation panels (designed by one of the Friends of Nothe Gardens) have been installed around the gardens.
· A ‘Friends of Nothe Gardens’ banner for events has been produced.
· A new leaflet promoting the Nothe Gardens has been produced.
Volunteer Projects
· A youth group ‘doing good’ projects saw half a dozen teenagers give up their free time in the summer holidays to paint and tidy up the gardeners hut.
· The Friends continue to regularly tend the flowerbed by the CEFAS building at Newton’s Cove.
Events
· Friends help man a stand to promote parks at the Best of Dorset Tourism & Leisure show held at the Pavilion in February.
· The Friends held a successful bird box making event in May.
· Parks/Tourism Sections held a successful D-Day Picnic in the gardens in June.
· A Boat Ballet event sponsored by Waterside Holiday Park was held in July.
· The Friends held another exciting Teddy Bear’s Picnic in July.
· The RNLI’s bbq & lifeboat/helicopter rescue display took place in July.
Greenhill Gardens
Awards
Greenhill Gardens retains its Green Flag status and continues to be recognised as a garden of excellence.
Externally Funded Projects
· The Friends funded the scented plants for a new sensory border by the Bennett’s Shelter.
· A new leaflet to promote Greenhill Gardens was produced by a local graphic artist free of charge. Printing costs were split between the various Greenhill Gardens concessions, the Friends, the Bowling Club and the Parks Section.
· Greenhill Beach Café lessees have purchased, planted and continue to tend a flowerbed adjacent to the ladies toilet block.
School Projects
Special needs students from Weymouth College continue to tend a flowerbed in the gardens.
Continued….
Improvement projects carried out by the Parks Section
· New tennis court fencing erected.
· A new notice board has been fixed to the back of the Seascape Café and a new resting point for wheelchairs/prams has been installed on this sloping pathway.
· A new leaflet dispenser has been installed to display Greenhill Gardens and Parklife walk leaflets.
· 4 new flower troughs have been installed along the rear of the bowling club, which are tended by the Greenhill Beach Café owners.
· A new ‘graffiti’ mural welcoming people to the gardens along with an interpretation panel and a welcome sign have been installed at the entrance to the gardens by the bowling green.
· A second recycling bin has been installed.
· Footway improvements have been made at the entrance by the bowling green.
Events
· Friends help to man stand to promote parks at the Best of Dorset Tourism & Leisure Show held at the Pavilion in February.
· Friends support the Mayor’s Charity Walk by manning a checkpoint in the gardens.
· Friends host their second Mad Hatter’s Tea Party in May.
· Friends organise a number of quiz nights at the Greenhill Beach Café to raise money to invest in the gardens.
· Weldmar host a Teddy Bear’s Picnic in June.
· Weldmar host music, food and firework evenings during August.
· Friends held another successful Pumpkins in the Park Party in October.
· Friends arranged a Christmas Carols in the Park event in December.
Radipole Park & Gardens
Improvement projects organised by the Friends of Radipole Park & Gardens
· A swan mosaic, donated free to the Friends, has been mounted on a Portland stone base, provided free by one of the local stone quarries, and installed free by a local stone mason at the entrance to the gardens.
· The Friends submitted a community bid to B&Q to fund 3 projects, including: planting around the newly installed mosaic, tidying up the area around the ‘Diana memorial’ and building a retainer around the base of the Tree of Heaven (centre of the gardens) to retain new decorative slate paddles.
Improvement projects carried out by the Parks Section
· The basketball fencing has been renewed.
· New basketball backboards, nets and lining out of courts have been carried out.
· Repairs to one section of the existing drainage system has been undertaken to alleviate the flooding on the football pitch and the play area.
· Patching repairs to paths throughout the gardens have been carried out.
· Renovation of the drainage to the car park area has been undertaken to alleviate the flooding problems.
Continued….
Partnership working
The Friends have put in a great deal of effort to establish a good working relationship with the local Police Community Safety Officers in order to ensure that anti-social behaviour problems are dealt with promptly.
Events
· Friends help to man stand to promote parks at the Best of Dorset Tourism & Leisure Show held at the Pavilion in February.
· A Bird Box Building session run by the RSPB was held in the gardens during the spring half term holiday.
· Friends support the Mayor’s Charity Walk by manning a checkpoint in the gardens.
· A Bird Feeder Making session run by the RSPB was held in the gardens during the autumn half term holiday.
· The Friends organised another successful litter pick.
Easton Gardens
Awards
Easton Gardens achieved Green Flag status and is now a nationally recognised garden of excellence.
Projects funded by Easton Community Group
· A new railing for the bandstand flowerbed.
· A new Palm for the bandstand flowerbed.
· Re-painting of the Monkey Hut.
· A new basketball backboard and net.
· New plants, part funded by the group and the Council, have been introduced in the flowerbeds.
· New gates have been installed onto the two main entranceways into the gardens and these have been funded by Easton Community Group, Court Leet and Portland Rotary Club.
Improvement projects carried out by the Parks Section
· New welcome signs were installed.
· A new notice board, recycling bin and an interpretation panel were also installed.
· Path networks in the gardens were upgraded.
· Cleaning of all the stone work in the gardens was carried out.
· Additional shrub planting around the toilet block was carried out.
· New railings around the play area were installed.
Volunteer Projects
· A youth group ‘doing good’ projects saw half a dozen teenagers give up their free time in the summer holidays to paint some of the play equipment in Easton Gardens. This project received regional TV coverage. Continued….
Events
· Friends help to man stand to promote parks at the Best of Dorset Tourism & Leisure Show held at the Pavilion in February.
· Royal Manor Art Workshops host their first art exhibition in the gardens in July.
· Easton Community Group held their Summer Fayre in August.
· A new play group run by the ‘Play Doctor’ and funded by the DCA is being held in the gardens every Saturday morning.
· Recycling roadshows were held in the gardens.
· Police Community Liaison roadshows also took place in the gardens.
· The Easton Christmas Promise event was held by the Island Volunteers for You (IVY) group in December.
Victoria Gardens
A Friends of Victoria Gardens was constituted in April 2008.
Funding Bids
· The Friends have successfully submitted a funding bid to COMMA to create a ‘woodland community’ in the gardens.
· The Friends have successfully submitted a funding bid to Court Leet to replace a set of gates on one of the entrances to the gardens.
· The Friends have successfully submitted a bid to Portland Port for a new notice board.
· The Friends have worked with SWRDA to obtain funding for picnic benches, additional play equipment as well as funding for disabled access improvements.
· The CDRP/Friends are looking for funding to install security lighting.
Volunteer Projects
· The Friends organised their first clean-up in the park in May.
· The Friends organised a vegetation clearance to help create a wooded area at the top of the gardens.
School Projects
· The Friends organised a planting day in the gardens with 8 pupils from Underhill Community Junior School’s gardening club in June.
· The Friends organised a crocus bulb planting project with local school children from Brackenbury Infant School.
Events
· The Friends organised their first Teddy Bear’s Picnic in July.
· The Friends organised a Carols in the Park event in December.
Continued….
Chapelhay Gardens
· A civil war battle took place in Chapelhay Gardens in February to raise the profile of the Chapelhay Community Partnership, a group of residents keen to improve the gardens.
· Two new seats were installed together with new planting to tidy up the gardens, which was funded by the brewery connected to the Old Rooms pub.
· A new ‘graffiti’ mural welcoming people to the gardens has been created.
· Volunteers from the Fire Service and the Community Partnership spent a Sunday afternoon reinstating fencing, bulb planting and generally tidying up the gardens in October.
Since the collapse of the wall, Chapelhay Gardens have been closed for health and safety reasons. Until a structural survey/repair works are carried out, the gardens will remain closed.
Lodmoor Country Park
A Friends of Lodmoor Country Park was constituted in November 2008.
Volunteer Projects
· The Friends organised their first litter pick in November.
· The Friends helped Parks staff to install new oak benches around the Country Park.
· The Friends helped to refurbish a shelter in the Country Park.
St John’s Gardens
· Volunteers from Weymouth Community Academy have cleared brambles, scrub, ivy, etc that was overgrown either side of the shelter. The volunteers then removed the graffiti from inside the shelter and re-painted the walls.
· Students from Weymouth College have undertaken some mosaic work to decorate one of four pillars that sit around the grassed area in the gardens.
Wyke Gardens
Volunteers litter pick and tend beds on an almost daily basis to keep Wyke Gardens alive. Without this commitment, the gardens would become an eyesore as there is just no money in the budget for the Parks Section to look after this open space.
An initial meeting to constitute Wyke Gardens as a Friends Group took place in November.
Weymouth in Bloom
· The nursery produced 50 hanging baskets for the Weymouth in Bloom Committee to sell to local businesses.
· The carpet bedding display in Greenhill was designed by local schoolgirl, Mia Hayden, who entered a competition to design a logo to represent Weymouth’s Westham ward. Continued….
· The Parks Section held a ‘Painting-A-Garden’ school’s competition on behalf of Weymouth in Bloom; all entries were displayed in Greenhill Gardens.
TIC Display
A new permanent ‘Parklife’ display stand has been installed at Weymouth’s TIC to promote the borough’s parks and open spaces.
Roundabout Sponsorship
5 of the borough’s roundabouts are currently sponsored with an annual income of £9,100 for 2008.
Positive Press Coverage for Parks
There were at least 84 good news articles in the local Echo, as well as local radio and some regional television coverage on our parks & gardens throughout 2008.
Tara Gooding
Parks Development Officer
January 2009