ANNUAL REPORT - Parks & Gardens Committee

PARKS & GARDENS COMMITTEE
Liz Chase (Chair), Vicky Williamson, Pauline Allen, Stuart Mcnally

It’s been an exciting year for us as we managed to achieve some real improvements in Bonhay Big Park as a first stage in our plan to make it a much more interesting place to be. The Parish Council agreed to fund new play equipment so, following a consultation process with the community, we chose to purchase a Trim Trail and a Nest swing for less able-bodied children – from Rhino Play. This has transformed the look of the park and the new equipment has been extremely popular. We were delighted to receive a donation for use of the village, from the Welcome Holiday Park via Westbank, which enabled us to purchase a picnic table. With these new additions we were able to use the revamped park for a Village party celebrating the Queen’s Jubilee. Many thanks to the organisers and the volunteers who put in such effort to litter pick, tidy, set up and run stalls…it was a well attended event and much fun had by all.

And that isn’t the end of our plans…we are looking into the creation of a wild area, starting with the overgrown bank adjoining the Boatyard which is almost the last natural corridor for wildlife in the village, and hopefully encourage a bit of learning and recreation in a more natural environment. To start this off there will be a community event here at the Pavilion on 30th May (everyone welcome) to share and gather ideas on how we could achieve this. One of the first additions we hope, will be a native hedgerow marking out the wild area, which Starcross Action for Trees are kindly helping to organise

This Committee is also responsible for maintaining the walkway along the Strand, the Millennium Garden at the end of New Road and the green area by the War Memorial and we feel our contractors (Plant Tech and Tom Greenslade) have done a great job in maintaining the green spaces so nicely. We’d also like to throw out a mention of the people ( young and older!) we’ve noticed picking litter in the park and surrounding areas….a big thank-you, you are helping make our village nicer for everyone and your efforts are much appreciated. For our part we have organised the planting of new shrubs and summer bulbs along the Strand, the Parish Council has recently bid for funding to improve the planting in the “circle bed” between the park and Bowls Club, continues to support the efforts of Starcross in Bloom and hopes everyone will see the improvements for years to come.

EC 15/05/2023