Chair’s report for the Trustees, 30thOctober 2012
The park is managed through partnership between SBC, WTC & FPP. We have recently lost two key members, treasurer & vice chair, & also had a change of chair. The seamless transition indicates the strength of the group. A horticultural sub-group has been formed & two members of FPP meet every two weeks with the Park Keeper & the Area Parks Officer. Two FPP are currently working with the Area Parks Officer to update the park Management & Maintenance Plan. Maintenance programmes for timber & signage are being worked on by FPP/SBC. I am designing anti-skateboard devices, in oak, for the outdoor classroom seat. The Training Plan, Volunteer Action Plan & Audience Development Plan will also be reviewed over the winter.
Since the last trustee’s meeting in April 2011 FPP have helped at two Armed Forces Days. At both the Friends operated the PA system. In 2011 we helped with refreshments & in 2012 we supplied games to occupy the younger element, including a Spitfire treasure hunt, profits being donated to Help 4 Heroes & the local ATC. We also operated the PA system for the Yorkshire Regiment march in July 2011 & helped with refreshments. For the Remembrance Day Service in November 2011 we again operated the PA system. FPP enjoyed working with Helen, in the ArtGallery, on the knitted bugs event.
Five members of FPP attended training in event management & have put in place risk assessments, incident reporting procedures, safety briefings at events, site plans for events along with a detailed planning procedure. We were happy to be able to help the Lit & Phil when they were planning the Maritime re-enactment weekend. A short first aid course was well received by seven FPP, two members attended a “marketing attractions” conference & one a funding opportunities course.
We celebrated Halloween 2011 in good weather with a reasonable attendance. At Christmas the tree lighting, carols & supper proved as popular as ever, with Town Mayor, Cllr. John Freeman officiating as Santa Claus to give presents to the West Cliff School Choir. We have celebrated two Pannett Days, in July 2011 & July 2012, both themed a picnic in the park. The first, on a cold & windy day, was quite well attended but the second on a beautiful sunny day less so. We are considering a summer event on a week day rather than a Saturday next year to see if avoiding holiday change over day will improve attendance & also to enable Dalewood to take part. Also considering checking the tide times to avoid a good beach day. We persevered with Easter in the Park 2012 despite atrocious weather conditions & had a good turnout & a very successful day. Unfortunately we were not so lucky with Halloween 2012, last Saturday, & the main event was cancelled due to the bitter cold, hail showers, biting wind & dangerous conditions under foot. We managed to hold the fancy dress parade & carved pumpkin competition in the ArtGallery (thanks to Helen &WTC for permission to do that) & thanks to Town Mayor John Freeman for helping us out with the judging & prize giving. We have held two FPP photography competitions, the one in 2011 attracting more entries than that in 2012. Airy Hill school were awarded a special trophy for their entries in September 2011. Our thanks to Helen & WTC for allowing the winning entries to be displayed in the ArtGallery each year.
Over the winter we have worked on a “PannettPark leaflet” which was printed ready for the distribution in March. It has proved very popular & we are currently looking at a few up-dates & a re-print for 2013. We are also working on a “Tree Trail” leaflet, with information about 25 of the most interesting trees in the park, which we hope will be ready for next season. There are also plans to have the maths trail printed professionally. Last summer saw a 10,000 copy re-print of the popular JurassicGarden leaflet. We are particularly pleased with the PannettPark website with its new “Plan your visit” section & constantly up-dated videos & photos. We are indebted to Ron Wood for the hours he puts into the park videos. We had postcards made of the “Jubilee Clock” & are grateful to the Art Gallery Committee for enabling them to be sold in the Museum.
The park continues to receive accolades reflecting its renascent splendour. This is a reflection of the very successful partnership working between FPP & SBC gardeners, supported by WTC & local businesses & individuals. It has now received its third Green Flag. In the spring the Civic Society awarded the park a Certificate of Excellence.The park achieved silver gilt in Yorkshire in Bloom 2011, its first entry, with which we were delighted. It was when putting together the portfolios for the Bloom entries that we realised just how much had been achieved in the park each year. You can appreciate our feelings this year when the park was awarded gold in Yorkshire in Bloom 2012. We appreciated the Borough Mayor arranging a civic reception at ScarboroughTown Hall, in October, to recognise the work of volunteer & friends groups. Kath Horsley & I represented FPP. – and just last week FPP received a discretionary award for outstanding achievement at the Scarborough in Bloom presentation evening.
The volunteer gardening hours have now passed 10,000 – a fantastic achievement.
Everything we achieve in the park is through partnership & I would like to thank Chris Roe & his park staff for all their hard work & the support they give FPP. I would also like to thank WTC for its continued support, the coffee machine is much appreciated.
We are delighted to work with Dalewood Trust & purchased ergonomic tools to enable those of all abilities to work in the park.
Several groups have visited the park for talks & guided tours. The Civic Society, Parkinson’s support group twice, Friends of North & South Marine Park, Friends of Rectory Gardens & the Yorkshire Gardens Trust who wrote an article about the park for their news letter.
FPP Open Meetings are held four times a year & recently speakers have included Simon Hall of Hall’s Nurseries, explaining Air Pots, John Lammerton showing photographs of Alnwick Gardens & Alan Ritson, Whitby Naturalists, talking about wild flowers around Whitby. Attendance has not been high & we plan to hold an afternoon open meeting to try to attract more interest.