Friends Of Coed Bach Park: Council

Following a second public consultation meeting at Hendy RFC on Wednesday 30th January the Festival committee have agreed to discontinue with the traditional Carnival Parade and hold a community Summer Fete instead at Coed Bach Park.

The main reasons behind the decision are as follows:

Organising the parade requires Road Closure Orders and a minimum of 18 Persons to man the road as well as stewards to walk with the Lorries.
It also requires at least 10 Personnel to man the entrance to Coed back park due to the volume of people entering and pushing their way in behind the lorries.

Every year we struggle to get assistance for these tasks. The committee as it stands does not have the resources. Marshals are then brought in at a cost to perform these roles.

Road closure orders and Policing / Marshal cost in the region of £600.
Currently we utilise the Soccer playing fields at Coed Bach hired from Swansea City Council at a cost of £450. Insurance almost £900
Due to the litter left we then organise a complete litter pick £75
These are just some of the costs.

In fairness to the Haulage companies who provide the Lorries free of charge they find it more difficult each year to assist with drivers and Lorries.

The number of floats being entered has dwindled making the parade shorter each year. The float organisers themselves find it hard to get people to help prepare the floats. An example; we used to have 5-6 floats from the 3 schools Last year we had one.
This is not a criticism but a clear sign of the times.

The work involved in organising the Parade and the application forms that have to be completed are getting more complicated each year.
Although the festival Committee have adequate public liability insurance for the event it is impossible to get insurance cover for the Floats. Should an unfortunate incident occur whereby for an example a child falls from a lorry then who is held liable ?? (The Festival Committee !!!)

Although this decision has not been taken lightly, for several years we have noticed more and more separate events being organised locally on Carnival day obviously benefitting from the number of people coming into the area. As a result this has reduced the number of people attending the field and taking an active part in the Carnival field events. Whilst this is not a criticism of those organising the events it is inevitable that if people don’t support the Carnival with their attendance then changes need to be made. In essence the success of outside events has contributed to the demise of the Carnival in its current format.
Currently Pubs and Clubs make a lot of profit from Carnival day with the parade but unfortunately the Festival Committee does not get any contribution from them apart from one pub despite the huge costs laid out to put on the parade.
It has been decided that a summer community fete be held as an alternative to the traditional Carnival.
For ease of costs the Pontarddulais Rugby Club have offered their ground free of charge and their events team have indicated that they would like to take over the long term running of this event.
It has been stipulated and agreed that the income from the event is retained in the Community fund to sustain future events.
The festival committee are happy to continue to help with this and to continue with the Christmas Parade as usual as long as the funding is secured which currently comes from both Llanedi Community Council and Pontarddulais Town Council. (Last year the cost was nearly £900)

The Christmas Grotto will be retained as well as the inter schools sports competition. These events are totally none profit making as they are free.

The committee are all volunteers who have worked tirelessly for many years in bringing these events to the community. For that I thank each and every one of them. I also want to take this opportunity to thank all our Patrons who have given generously over the years to support us, the advertisers, local traders and the hauliers for the lorries, not forgetting the Stalls from various organisations.

Although this may be disappointing for many we have had to face the reality checks on the whole event and realised it was no longer sustainable and safe to continue as it was. I hope we all as a community embrace the new format and support the new event. More details will be published later.

A further meeting to set a New committee has been arranged for Wednesday 20th February at the Pontarddulais Rugby Club

Thank you for your continued support

Lyn Anthony
Chairman. Pontarddulais, Hendy & District Festival Committee.

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Lyn Anthony Pontarddulais and Hendy Carnival Committee

Friday, 31 March 2017

February March April Update.

2017 is zipping along at an alarming rate of knots. One moment you are celebrating Christmas and New year, and the next you are looking back with a feeling that Christmas was only two weeks ago but in reality it was a lot longer than that!

Since the beginning of the New Year the Park is absolutely thriving with activity taking place on an almost daily basis. The Our Place team are super busy in the Park for four days a week and the volunteers are up there whenever possible, and of course we have a new park manager who along with his team of guys are working flat out to improve the park wherever they can.

Awards

On Friday 24^th March three members of the FOCBP Christine Thomas, Windsor Clarke and Martin Hanson were invited to attend a presentation evening in the Pontarddulais Institute to receive certificates and a cheque for £200. Also in attendance were other organisations based in Pontarddulais who also received cheques and several individual awards were given to people who had made a huge difference to the town.
We would also like to take this opportunity to Thank the Town Council for their help and support over the last few years.

Bike Path

Members of the FOCBP are backing a scheme to run a bike path from Pontarddulais and connect it to Grovesend/Gorseinon more info can be found below.

https://sustrans.onlinesurveys.ac.uk/walesrdp-stakeholder-pontarddulais

Scouts

On Saturday 18^th March members of the 4^th Lliw Valley Pontarddulais Scouts Group joined FOCBP members in planting some new trees and shrubs at the newly repaired Coed Bach entrance.

Thank You all for your help and we hope you enjoyed getting your hands muddy.

Coed Bach Entrance

After being in a bit of a sorry state Swansea City Council were able to get a team out to the Coed Bach entrance and straighten the gates up and replaced the old fence with a brand spanking new one.

The approach from Coed Bach road now looks better and you now also have a better view into the park itself. The volunteers will look at adding a splash of colour to this area, and come the warmer weather the park will look even more of of an inviting sight especially as the wildflowers patch is near this entrance, the view should be superb.

The Park management team have also taken some time out of their busy schedules to help improve the service road that runs around the football fields to the Coed Bach entrance as in parts it was getting muddy and people were getting stuck with prams and power chairs.

The effect of the clearance is that while it can be a bit rough underfoot (It has always been the same) it is less muddy and drainage is a lot better than before. Once the loose stones bed in to the ground it will be even better to walk on. And more people will be able to get to other parts of the park that previously they were unable to access.

We give a big THANK YOU to Kelvin the Park manager and his team for all the help they have given to us since they have come into the park.

Photo by Kelvin Carpenter

Our Place Team

The Our Place Team based at the Canolfan y Bont have been working full tilt in the park since the beginning of the new year.

As usual they are continually topping up the woodchip pathways around the woodland areas, and despite some bad weather turning parts of the pathways into mud the team manage to persevere and patch up the worst bits.

It is also fantastic to see people taking time out of their walks to stop and chat to the team members and they take the time to get to know the service users and make them feel welcome in the park, and some even let the guys have a play and pet of their dogs. This is community at its finest.

The big project since February has been to construct a wigwam/tipi on the pathway running between the edge of 2^nd woods and the show field.

This project has been a huge hit with the children of Pitter Patter Nursery on Dulais road who are now visiting the park on an almost daily basis. And of course children exploring the woodlands while out on walks with mums and dads and grandparents are all making the most of it, which again is fantastic to see.

The Lord Mayor of Swansea David Hopkins and Councillor Beverley Hopkins visited the park on Wednesday 15^th March to meet volunteers and Our Place team members. During his visit the Lord Mayor took the opportunity to plant some new trees and the visited the wigwam/tipi to officially open it.

And we were delighted to see some regular park users in the tipi enjoying a picnic in the afternoon sunlight. The mayor took his time and spoke to all members of the teams concerned with the park and thanked everybody for all their efforts.

The Our Place team members have also placed two wooden benches in the 2^nd woods by the Friendship tree, this should be a fantastic place to sit once the Bluebells come into full bloom.

The current project is to build a small picket fence around the Helibores/Crocus patch which is near the wooden bridge that takes you towards the show field.
And the team even found time to plant some new trees around several locations in the park.

All Tipi/Wigwam photos Sian Thomas.

PTFC

Following the planting of crocus bulbs by FOCBP members and members of the public and Football teams a few months back.

The letters P T F C came into bloom on the bank of the upper and lower field.

PCSO's

And of course we have to give thanks to our superb team of PCSO's working in Pontarddulais. Matthew and Hayley are in the park as often as they can be keeping an eye on any potential problems, and occasionally are fed information by members of the public and FOCBP members who are keeping an eye out for any naughty activities that occasionally take place in the Park.

We have always had a great relationship with them and we give them a Huge THANK YOU! For all their efforts in these difficult financial times.

We look forward to our next chat over a cuppa.

UPDATE

A few weeks ago a group of youths decided that the park was their own personal racecourse for their motorbikes, several members of the public and volunteers were in the park during this incident and were able to contact the Police with information regarding the riders. We have been informed the youths were spoken to and next time their bikes are seen anywhere near the park they will be removed from their care.

All images SWPSwansea Twitter Account

AGM

The yearly AGM meeting will be held at Pontarddulais Cricket Club on Wednesday 26^th April 2017 and will commence at 7.30pm. We are looking for fresh volunteers, we need new ideas, we need more people to help.

Like any group you can only exist for so long and if nothing changes then one day it could all come to an end, and then what.........?

Please! Please! Come and join us we need your help to take the Park forward not only for our future, but that of your children and Grandchildren.

As usual you can follow our FB and Twitter Links and you can email us at the address at the top of this blog or you can contact us via our social media sites.

Facebook.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/550777668395584/

Twitter.
https://twitter.com/FOCBP?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor

Until our next Blog Update Have Fun In The Park.

Monday, 30 January 2017

January Update.

Thanks to everyone for their contribution and ideas for the Coedbach Road entrance to the Park. As with all things to do with the Park because it is a public place there are always health and safety issues to contend with. However, the Parks department has stepped forward to give us assistance and thanks to the Pontarddulais Partnership who are putting up the money to pay for the materials plus a small contribution from the Friends, the old fence will be taken down and a new fence put up and work is expected to start this week. Once the fence is in place then the Friends will be planting some shrubs and flowers on the Park side as it is going to be a fence similar to what's around the tennis courts.
Thank you for all your offers to help.

Also in the next couple of weeks with the help of the lads from the Parks department and their digger drainage pipes will be going in to take the standing water away from outside the children's play area where it makes quite a big puddle. Those of us who walk the area know this only to well and redirect it to the seasonal ponds area. The Friends will be paying for the pipes and chippings and we are able to do this thanks to the kindness of Elwyn the Pet Shop's family who gave us a donation in his memory.

The Friends have also received from the Conservation Volunteers Organisation http://www.tcv.org.uk/community/i-dig-trees 100 bare root trees approximately 2.' 6" high with bamboo stakes and rabbit/strimmer guards and the Our Place Team have volunteered to plant these, thank go to this team for the great work they've been doing topping up the woodchip paths. They are destined for the area that has been cleared of Knotweed, as you can never have too many trees because they help stop soil erosion, help with air pollution as well as being great habitats for birds and insects.

The Park Team Working on the drainage.

Monday, 19 December 2016

December 2016

It is nearly the end of another year and as usual around about this time the FOCBP have placed tags with personal messages on the Friendship Tree in the heart of the second woods.
As usual we thank our resident artist Gaynor Fuge for her efforts in creating these tags as group members know it is time consuming, and Gaynor has a lot of her own projects to work on so I am sure you would also like to join with us and say a huge 'THANK YOU GAYNOR' for all your efforts to bring so much comfort and happiness to people at this time of year.

2016 has been a huge year for the park and with so much we could say, I fear that I could be writing this blog for several more days!!!

So instead I have taken the easy way out and posted images from our other Social Media sites showing how wonderful Coed Bach has become in 2016.

A photo review of what made Coed Bach Park so special in 2016

(A big Thank You to everybody that have shared their images with us over the last year.)