Friends of Devonport Park
In 2005 a group of community minded people, disappointed with the lack of maintenance of the park over the years, and that so little use was made of it by residents, decided to get together and form a 'Friends' group. Since then the Friends have received various grants, the largest being over £3million of lottery funding. This is to be spent on restoring the park it to its former Victorian glory.
The work has already started; a wild-flower meadow has been planted at the western end of the park; at the Fore Street entrance the lower Lodge is being refurbished; there is an exciting new play area, and work is in progress on a new-build refreshment centre. At time of writing, August 2009, a feasibility study is being carried out on whether a bandstand can once again take pride of place in the centre of the park. See our
Devonport Park pages for other info ...
Newsletter
The Friends of Devonport park produce a Newsletter that can be downloaded, either right-click
here
and choose 'save as', or from the web site of
The Friends.
Volunteering
The Devonport Park Voluntary Gardening Club would be delighted to hear from anyone wishing to volunteer. If you are interested in joining
It is hoped that volunteers will be able to attain NVQ qualifications in the near future through Duchy College, so this is the ideal opportunity for anyone interested in horticulture to take that first step.
'Music in the Park'
The Friends of the Park held their popular 'Music in the Park' event on Sunday 13 September. This included lots of children’s entertainment, refreshments and a range of live music all afternoon.
The event was well supported. This year, the Friends shared their proceeds between the Friends and the charity 'Help for Heroes'. First prize was a return ferry crossing for two to France on Brittany Ferries (value £200). There were also cash prizes from £100 down to £25 and many other prizes as well. There were several displays from Dartmoor Wildlife Park, the National Marine Aquarium and Plymouth City Museum, plus there were be donkey rides, fairground carousel, Punch & Judy, Circus skills show & workshop, Dog Show, Music Makers (for younger children), birds of prey, live music, tombola tables, various refreshments (including cream teas) and lots of stalls and games. The tent that held the wonderful, wonderful owls was extremely popular.
Contact
The contact for the Friends is their Communications Oficer, Melony Gallagher: email:
[email protected]