Hello Dear Friends

This year has been so different for us all.  We had no choice but to cancel all our Cafe Days after the March event and it was impossible to hold our AGM in November due to the Covid restrictions. This report is a summary of our activities since the last AGM.

Covid 19 certainly changed the way we filled our days and I was glad to be able to walk around the Park and enjoy the wildlife and scenery.  Meeting with many of you on these walks reassured me that the cakes and company on Cafe Days were sadly missed.  Hopefully next year things will return to some kind of normal.  We have all missed them so much.

The group of Voluntary Rangers have been able to meet outside in the Park, in accordance with government guidelines, working on various projects in small distanced groups.   We planted the area in front of the Visitors’ Centre with spring bulbs and wildflower seeds, after a great deal of weed clearing and heavy digging.  We replaced the boat in the Spillway, after retrieving it from the water yet again, and planted more pansies in it.  It is now chained to the fence and anchored with a huge pole, complete with Ulley flag.  A great deal of tidying up the area outside the Centre, cutting down brambles and nettles around the park and generally helping John the Ranger with any tasks he identifies.  The tables on the balcony have been scrubbed and covered to protect them during the winter months.   We are unable to meet during this current lock-down but hope to continue in December.  A huge thank you to all the Voluntary Rangers and especially Ian and Sue Topham who keep the bird feeders round the Park filled with seed.

The Park achieved the Green Flag Award recently and  I am sure our work contributed,  however,  real praise must go to John for all his efforts during these difficult times.

We were able to hold the popular photography competition again this year.  104 photos were submitted from 27 photographers and were shortlisted by the committee via Zoom.  Voting for peoples first three choices was carried out by e-mail and the results are now on our web-site.  Caroline Bennett won both First and Second prizes and there were some wonderful pictures taken around the Park again.  The competition continues to grow in popularity.  Well done everyone.

We have been lucky enough to receive funding once more from Banks Community Fund.  This is for three poetry posts which will contain printed pieces of poetry written by children at last year’s Arts Festival.  The posts are being carved by chainsaw sculptor Lorraine Botterill and will be installed in the very near future.  Do look out for them.  Other plans for the Park include replacement litter bins as two more have been subjected to mindless vandalism.

You may have read about our new printed tote bags!  These come in two sizes with a choice of printed pictures.  More information can be found on the Friends web-site.  Please support this project.

Despite the loss of income from our Café Days we made a small profit during the financial year and the Friends accounts remain healthy and in a similar position to last year

Although our activities have been severely restricted my thanks go to the Committee, Voluntary Rangers and everyone who continues to support the Friends group.

Hope we can all meet up again soon. Bobbie