Childs Hill Park Annual Report 2022/23
2022/23 has been the first full post Covid year and it has seen park users thoroughly enjoying returning freedoms. Each dry day sees large groups of adults and children enjoying refreshments at the Café and spreading their chairs and tables across the grass and under the trees.
Thanks to Sally and the Diggers the flower beds are full of beautiful flowers and grasses. We are very grateful to Jacques Amand bulb importers who give us surplus bulbs each February. This accounts for the colourful daffodils, tulips and Muscari we enjoyed throughout the Spring.
The Orchard is a prominent feature of the park, now supplemented by additional cherry trees. In July the Orchard Project held a session where they taught us how to prune and care for our fruit trees. They encouraged us to plant bee friendly flowers to ensure
pollination, and we plan to plant a lavender hedge along the edge of the tennis court nearest to the orchard.
The Orchard Project is a charity which supports and encourages the planting of community orchards. They donated the trees which make up our orchard and showed us how to plant and care for them.
Albanian Childrens Day
Childs Hill Park is a great community resource and especially in the summer offers a location for all sorts of organised outdoor events.
After a gap due to Covid, we welcomed back the Albanian Childrens Day celebration. It was full of lively music and children dressed in national costume.We look forward to welcoming back the participants this coming summer.
Eagles United Football Club
Eagles United, the football club for children, is a regular user of the park football pitches. The club is going from strength to strength and achieving excellent results in their league.
On July 2[nd] Eagles United held their end of year players award ceremony in the park. It was so encouraging to see the enthusiasm of the children and parents as players received their medals. This is only possible due to the team of volunteer staff who give their time to support the club and train the children.
Sadly there was an electrical fire in the Eagles changing room, which spread to the Café. Fortunately repairs have been completed and the club continues to welcome enthusiastic young football players.
The playground and paths
Many parents told us that they were reluctant to let their children play in the playground when it had been raining because the grass became so muddy and slippery. We are grateful to Barnet for organising a new rubber
crumb surface which was laid in June. This gives us a true year-round usable playground.
Some of the paths are in very poor condition. Childs Hill Park is on the list for new paths. This is proving slow to come to fruition, but commissioning is underway.
As I write this report (April 2023) the tennis courts are being re-laid. It will be good to see this popular asset in first class condition.
Green Our Neighbourhood
Back in the April 2022 newsletter, I wrote that we had set up a new Green Our Neighbourhood Group, bringing together the various friends groups of our local parks and green spaces. The aim is to combat pollution, improve air quality and promote bio-diversity.
Throughout the year volunteers from all the groups have been planting flowers locally along verges, around trees and in other open ground on our streets. You may have noticed the results in muscari, daffodil and tulips growing near Basing Hill Park, on Finchley Road, the Hendon Way, Hodford Road and near All Saints Church.
Recently Barnet Area Committee gave Green Our Neighbourhood a grant and detailed planning has started to plant hedges in front of our local primary schools and more trees along walking routes to school.
Ingrid Posen Chair, Friends of Childs Hill Park
Friends of Childs Hill Park Registered Charity No 1162364 Accounts to 31 March 2023 31 March 2022 31 March 2023 Income and Expenditure Account Income Grants 2.960 LB8 grant Sakura Trees LBB ref reshment grant Domtions 14.17 0.0 116.00 2.974.17 Total Income 116.CK) 186.57 Plants 184.99 205.21 Sakura Planting Open Doy Tree purchase and plantiThJ 2 benches 0.0 218.40 586.37 2,000.00 0.0 31.00 Equipment 0.0 2.641.18 Total EX11te 771.36
332.99 &Jplus/Deficit for year B/Fwd os at l April 2022 C/Fwd as at l April 2023 7,173.61 (655.36) 7.506.61 6,851.25 7,506.61 Bal<ue Sheet at 31 Alarch 2023 Cash at bank and in hand 7.506.61 6,851.25 Accountants Report I have inspected the above Balance Sheet and Income and Expenditure Account for the year ending 31 March 2023. The books, records and information were presented to me and conf irm they are in accordance therewith. Monroe Palmer OBE FCA