Friends of Aberdare Park.
Chairman’s Annual Report for 2019.
The year 2019 has been a fantastic year for Friends of Aberdare Park. We had been planning for 2019 from January 2018.
We had two aims. 1. to work hard to raise money for the Splash pad after the disappointment from the Lottery. 2. to celebrate the 150th Anniversary of Aberdare Park.
As Chairperson I must congratulate all the Friends who supported us, working extremely hard to bring Aberdare Park alive.
Of course we must not forget the Council Staff who love this Park as much as we do. The splendid floral displays. The new information boards were great and the Green Flag Award was well deserved. Marie, please take our congratulations to the Park staff for all their work.
The parkrun has been a huge success especially when acknowledging the Remembrance day and the Father Christmas run. The Bryn Sion carollers were brilliant. My thanks to Ian their minister.
The parkrun has livened the Park every Saturday Morning. Well done to Adrian for his efforts along with the team and the Dragons Running Club. Do not forget our original trustees who trained to be volunteers to run the parkrun.
If I can go back to Marie. We were pleased to support her efforts to interest adults and children in nature in the Park. - RSPB Birdwatch, Bat Watch, Bug Life and butterfly surveys. We are proud of support your efforts. We did try the gardening project, but it’s in limbo at the moment.
Early on the Fashion Show at Trina’s was very successful. Thanks to Sharon R, Sharon P and Wendy.
The Royal Visit was declined, but may be considered for 2020.
The selling of duckfood has been fantasticly successful thanks to Jayne getting it going, Ann for packing loads of bags and Liz for selling it in the Cafe. I saw in 2018, the seagulls picking off the little ducklings on the lake. Last summer, the seagulls had gone because they don’t like duckfood and the six little ducklings have grown to adulthood.
Friends of Aberdare Park made a real effect at the Spring Holidays with our Egg Hunt. Liz, of course, provided the attractions. It was very successful event with so many children taking part, we had to reload the eggs several times. It was a joyous event. Many thanks especially for Rob as a Rabbit and Wendy’s photos and Rob was some other creature in the Dino event!
Another outstanding event was the opening of the Display board at the back of the café facing the Fountain. The Display was created by Marie, Geoff Evans with some help from the Friends and paid for by the Museum. Roy Noble pulled the drapes.
We invited two people to be our Patrons, Roy Noble and Vikki Howells our AM. Both accepted.
The Stall at the Abedare Festival was exceptionally successful spreading our aims for the SplashPad. Those friends who participated were brilliant. I must name Alan Evans, Alun Evans and Randall Mathieson from the Ynysllwyd Allotments for donating the huge amount of flowers and plants. Ann and Geraint’s bean planting was a great idea. Stan and Gareth’s sales pitch worked well. We had the best stall by miles!
Okay. I know that you are waiting in awe for the next events that took 4 months out of my life Saturday 13th July. The Concerts.
It was made easier because of the organisational skills of Mike Thomas, a dear friend of mine and the support of the Police that made the events so successful. There were two outstanding concerts. My thanks to the Victorian Ladies who missed most of the fun serving the crowds. a brass band, a jazz band, 8 choirs, one wonderful singer, two MPs from 1860, a football club, a gymnastic club, St John’s first aiders, police exhibition, the Fire Brigade and more. A fantastic event.
Two appearances on TV on ITWales news and S4C Heno.
September 15th. The Good Old Days.
Again, I relied on the talents of two special people to put on a wonderful experience of fun, music and magic. Nathan Jones (Musical Director) and Derek Williams (Stage Manager) created an unforgettable show. Thanks to everyone who went on stage and the support of our members.
I must thank Mary and Sheryll for helping me rescue the Calendar Competition which was another great success, despite the printer error.
I want to also thank Sheryll Davies for raising in excess of £3000 by putting her creative skills to work by producing place mats, Xmas cards and baubles, mugs,scarves etc. An amazing effort.
Our events climaxed with the Christmas party at the Oasis arranged by Sharon and co. It was a very enjoyable event.
Lastly, Debra’s decoration of the Christmas Tree at St Fagan’s Church was classic with a Victorian theme.
This coming year is another exciting one with hopes that we will have our splashpad and we will all be working to make 2020 another super year. The next few weeks the splashpad group are working extremely hard to succeed in a major project.
If I have missed out anyone, please let me know.
Thank you for your continued support.
Philip.
Chairman’s Annual Report for 2020.
2020 has been a difficult year for Friends of Aberdare Park with the shadow of the Covid 19 pandemic.
January started with the great success of the Cynon Valley Museum organising a ‘Year in Aberdare Park’ exhibition with contrIbitions from Aberdare Photography Society, the Museum and Friends of Aberdare Park led by Wendy supported by the fundraising group. It was very popular with visitors to showcase our successes of 2019.
The fundraising group led by Sharon started to plan events for the coming year. These included events for Easter, Battle of Britain, Council events etc. Unfortunately, these had to be cancelled.
February and March were extremely challenging for the splash pad group organising the legalities and contracts to start the building of the splash pad. WPS were pushing hard to start, so we had to find the financial shortfall to match the offers from our funders. Sobell Trust, Davies Homes (Pontypridd) and especially WDL came to the rescue.
Liz and Billy’s support has been important help in the running of the splash pad.
The Lease and the Licence involved lots of dicussions between us and the Council and the Funders. The Legalities involved solicitors and that took considerable time.
The week prior to starting was frenetic for me. My head went into the freezer many times. Imust thank Jayne, Ann, Sharon and Adrian for everything they did to support the drive to get the splash pad built.
We were really pleased when the Park was again awarded Green Flag. FOAP is looking forward to working with Marie and her colleagues on future projects to support their work in retaining the Award’s status.
Once again the Parks Dept have kept the park in excellent order with beautiful floral displays and the upgrades of facilities and toilets. We have continued to tend to the Raglan Memorial with an annual cleaning and flower planting.
Our weekly parkrun was going from strength to strength until Covid 19 intervened with the last event being on 14th March. This continues to be an opportunity for the whole community to get together to walk, jog or run every Saturday morning. We average 100 participants each week.
We have organised various online fundraising activities with Sarah’s Halloween cakes. Sheryll’s superb Calendars, Sharon’s Christmas Raffle, Adrian’s santa suits, and Ade’s sister in law Pauline’s soaps and smellies. Many thanks to all of them.
I would also like to thank a number of groups and individuals for their financial contributions such as the Aberdare Golf Club and The Beehive.
We raised significant funds from the sale of birdseed during the year, but it has stopped over the winter. With the overcrowding of birds, there is a risk from Avian flu. An outbreak would have a devastating impact with closing the Park having to for three months. There have been outbreaks in Newport and Carmarthen so we need to be very alert to the risk this poses.
I have been very grateful for your help and support throughout this difficult year. A huge amount of work has gone on to ensure that the Splash Pad project has almost been completed.
Philip Chair FOAP.
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