TALES TOLD LANTERN PARADE TONIGHT – 17 JUNE

Posted on by

10320434_10207079597763815_5638762537637499641_nThe Tales Told Festival run by JP Productions, a community arts group,  is holding a Lantern Parade tonight, 17 June 2016.   The Parade starts at Guiseley Theatre at 8pm,  and will parade to Parkinson’s Park for a closing Tales Told Festival event with Fireworks at sundown.

We’d like to ask for your help in alerting local people  with pets, that there will be Fireworks run by a professional, and award winning company Optimum Fireworks,  in the Park tonight.

We hope the event goes well for the Festival; it sounds like great fun.

(Please note the event is not run by the Friends of Parkinson’s Park, all information on the event should be obtained from JP Productions,  link given above.  As the Park is privately owned, JP Productions have requested permission of the landowners via FOPP, for this event.  FOPP have given advice on wildlife and who to notify regarding animals kept nearby)

 

OLD FRIENDS FORMALLY CLOSED – NEW FRIENDS SCHEME TO BE ANNOUNCED

Posted on by

At the AGM on 4th May the old Friends of Parkinson’s Park as an unincorporated association was formally closed – thanks went to everyone who had played a part in the group since its inception in 2011.

The running, development and maintenance of the Park has now been taken on by Friends of Parkinsons Park CIC,  a company limited by guarantee who are registered as a community interest company.   FOPP CIC are  in discussion with Bellway and Meadfleet about the future of the Park.

There will be a new Friends Scheme for the Park announced as soon as it is possible.  Meanwhile, anyone interested in joining FOPP CIC as a Friend should contact  Friends Secretary Martyn Hornsby Smith,  on parkinsonspark@gmail.com.

The constitutions for FOPP CIC is here, this will evolve as the running of the new organization is developed.

LAST FOPP AGM – 4th May 2016

Posted on by

relay batonThe Friends of Parkinson’s Park needs to hold it’s final AGM to wind up the unassociated organization that we were.   We can then legally go forward as Friend’s of Parkinson’s Park CIC, and we would invite all old Friends to join the new organization.

With that in mind, we will hold FOPP’s final AGM, to report on the 2015/2016 year on 4th May 2016, 7.30pm, in the Fellowship Room, Methodist Church, Guiseley,  we would like to invite all Friends to attend.

The event will consist of reports on the year past, and discussions and updates regarding the new Company, the challenges ahead, and becoming a Friend.

LEARN HOW TO PRUNE FRUIT TREES IN THE COMMUNITY ORCHARD

Posted on by

66f7e58593d773ac2ba010114dcf1ff3Event cancelled as Hilary has unfortunately broken her hip – we wish her the very best for a speedy recovery.

We are very pleased to announce that Hilary Dodson, Chair of the Northern Fruit Group,  will be in Parkinson’s Park this Friday, 1st April, to show people how to prune the pear and apple trees we have in the Community Orchard.  The trees were planted over a year ago, and now need work to ensure they grow in the best way to produce a strong framework and fruit. Continue reading →

Come And Tie A Ribbon On the Easter Tree

Posted on by
20160314_103416

Children hang ribbons on the Guiseley Easter Tree

We are now into the last two weeks of Lent, with Easter approaching, and spring in the air.  At the request of St Oswald’s Primary School,  we have started an Easter Tree in Parkinson’s Park this year, to welcome the reawakening of nature, new life and hope for the future.

The Children of St Oswald’s have started the tree off this morning by tying ribbons on in spring colours,  we would now invite anyone to add to it, with ribbons or easter egg decorations.

We then have the Chevin Cross up on the top of the hill, and the Easter Tree in the Park.

St Oswald’s Primary School – History Field Trip

Posted on by
Children standing on one of the early medieval lynchets.

Children standing on one of the early medieval lynchets.

We welcomed 90 children from St Oswalds’s Cof E Primary School today,  who came to hear about the history of the Park.

They heard the stories of what their parents, grandparents and great grandparents might have done in the Park – sledging, hay making, and attending bonfire night  .   Learnt that some of the features are very old; having been made by Angles before the Norman’s came to Britain.  Viewed the landscape carved out by the great glaciers, and heard about the time the Park was a warm sea, south of the equator.

Hearing about the great glaciers

Hearing about the great glaciers

They also heard the story of Frank and Albert Parkinson,  two local boys who built up an important manufacturing business, whilst looking after their staff and giving the Park to local people.

Some of their pottery finds

Some of their pottery finds

The idea that you could find lots of small artefacts around the Park relating to the past particularly caught their imagination, and they spent a good while running around on a treasure hunt – with some success.

We are luck to have been able to explore the history and landscape of the Park via a Heritage Lottery Fund grant, and this year there will be information boards and leaflets to tell the story to all visitors.

The Friends Become a Community Interest Company

Posted on by

(

12744112_10207450329111867_5822403291784829379_nWe are very pleased to announce that on 4th March 2016, the Friends of Parkionson’s Park were registered as a Community Interest Company and incorporated under the Companies Act 2006 (Registration Number 10044868) .  A community interest company is a social enterprise and exists to carry out activities that benefit a local community; in our case the district of Aireborough.  It has to be approved and registered in its purpose with the Community Interest Company Regulator, to whom we have to report annually.

The registered ‘community interest statement’  of the Friends of Parkinson’s Park CIC is :- Continue reading →

A BIG THANK YOU

Posted on by

P1140857Well, thanks to all those who voted for us, we have just heard we have received £300 from the GALAXY Hot Chocolate Fund to go towards the 2016 Lantern Parade.  We’d also like to thank Galaxy for the opportunity.

So, whilst we are starting to put together plans,  we’ll start early to ask if anyone would like to be a volunteer drummer – you get a lesson,  and a drum, and it is great fun.

We are also looking this year to raise money for a lantern making workshop, so that we can have more large lanterns.

 

CLEAN FOR THE QUEEN 2016

Posted on by

Very well done to Nicola Denson for organizing today’s Clean for the Queen event – an anti-litter campaign, with a whimsical slogan, to get people out together, having some fun and exercise, whilst cleaning up their local area, or park.

We started off with a few

Clean for the Queen

But as word got around on social media, more and more joined in, picking up the litter sticks , bag and gloves

P1160142

P1160158

Whilst others spent the morning on Twitter, deciding to scoff at other people’s efforts to tidy up for the sake of others – children, dogs, wildlife, and yes for the United Kingdom and Great Britain, headed by the Queen.  How ditzy and mean spirited can some people get about a slogan??? Continue reading →