[Gayle]

Please boys, stop squabbling - I've had to spend the last three nights looking after four, 7 year old boys backstage at panto and you're just as bad!

Now, on the subject in hand -

Friends of Rhyddings Park are aware of the lottery bid situation and will be discussing it at our next meeting on 12th February. Everybody who is interested is welcome to come and join in the discussion.

The lottery bid was 'withdrawn' because the council were advised that it would not be succesful in its current form. The council could have elected to keep the bid in the system but after being told it wouldn't stand much chance there was no point in doing that. If it had stayed in the system and failed then we wouldn't be able to apply again for something like five years. If the council withdrew it they can continue to work on it and resubmit it for the next round.

A couple of us have a meeting with Cllr Britcliffe in a week or so's time and the parks dept are invited. We were told many months ago that, should the bid fail, the council would immediately put money into essential maintenance i.e. paths. At this stage and until we meet with them we don't know exactly what that will entail.

However, the main point is that we're working together to improve the park. In the meantime, the Friends of Rhyddings Park group is applying for other funding to put other amenities into the park, (sometimes, the Friends of RP group is eligible to apply to different pots than the council).