I'd rather this was in anything goes!

[garinda]

Originally Posted by Bagpuss

There you go Neil because he personally found £67,000 for you, I wouldn't blame you didn't want to rock the boat.

No wonder he seems a tad defensive towards him.

£67,000 = sixty seven million pounds in H.B.C. world.

Those rabbits will be eating organic greens off solid gold plates.

[Bagpuss]

Originally Posted by garinda

£67,000 = sixty seven million pounds in H.B.C. world.

PMSL, oh well I needed a new monitor this ones full of coffee.

[jaysay]

Originally Posted by Bagpuss

How do you work that one out???
I've not been up Rhyddings Park for over 5 years but reading reports I believe the Neil & Co do a great job.

Something about Neil not wanting to rock the boat was making me wonder just a tad

[jaysay]

Originally Posted by garinda

No wonder he seems a tad defensive towards him.

£67,000 = sixty seven million pounds in H.B.C. world.

Those rabbits will be eating organic greens off solid gold plates.

So don't we in Ossy deserve that kind of consideration Rindi when the beans are being shared out, Neil, Gayle and Co do great job and I for one back their efforts to the full. I only wish I was more able bodied and I would be only to willing to be more hands on, but unfortunately I can't

[garinda]

Originally Posted by jaysay

So don't we in Ossy deserve that kind of consideration Rindi when the beans are being shared out, Neil, Gayle and Co do great job and I for one back their efforts to the full. I only wish I was more able bodied and I would be only to willing to be more hands on, but unfortunately I can't

Don't get me wrong, I think it's great.

Great that money has now been made available to carry out essential maintenance of the bottom path, and the drainage of the main field, particularly as no money has been spent on it for years. Years spent hoping for win from the lottery fund to pay for it all, which hasn't as yet materialised.

I'm sure residents throughout the rest of the borough will look on in envy, as Rhyddings Park enjoys it's windfall, as they contemplate the state of their own parks.

[jaysay]

Originally Posted by garinda

Don't get me wrong, I think it's great.

Great that money has now been made available to carry out essential maintenance of the bottom path, and the drainage of the main field, particularly as no money has been spent on it for years. Years spent hoping for win from the lottery fund to pay for it all, which hasn't as yet materialised.

I'm sure residents throughout the rest of the borough will look on in envy, as Rhyddings Park enjoys it's windfall, as they contemplate the state of their own parks.

The problem with Rhyddings Park started when we had a Labour council who didn't give toss, when we had Labour councillors saying it was fine for kids to play football on a bowling green when there was a perfectly good field, which I used when I was a kid and still there for that purpose. Now these same Labor councillors, when found out and kicked out didn't stay long enough to reap the damage they had done, well thank god for that Hyndburns gain is now Carlisle lose

[garinda]

Originally Posted by jaysay

The problem with Rhyddings Park started when we had a Labour council who didn't give toss, when we had Labour councillors saying it was fine for kids to play football on a bowling green, and now these same Labor councillors, when found out and kicked out didn't stay long enough to reap the damage they had done, well thank god for that Hyndburns gain is now Carlisle lose

Like I said, it's great money is finally available after years of neglect, which had left the park in a dangerous, and inaccesible state for many people.

I'm sure residents who don't live in Oswaldtwistle are green with envy.

[Gayle]

Originally Posted by garinda

Like I said, it's great money is finally available after years of neglect, which had left the park in a dangerous, and inaccesible state for many people.

I'm sure residents who don't live in Oswaldtwistle are green with envy.

Whilst £67,000 seems like a lot of money, it really doesn't do an awful lot compared to the £1.6m that the park really needs to completely regenerate it. The funding bid was for £1.6m which would have made the park spectacular. I'm certainly not complaining about £67,000 because it's fantastic that some basic work is being done but to put it into perspective, other parks have had basic maintenance done on them over the last ten years, this is just a catch up. The paths in Rhyddings are dangerous at the moment, doing them is long over due.

[Neil]

Originally Posted by Gayle

Whilst £67,000 seems like a lot of money, it really doesn't do an awful lot compared to the £1.6m that the park really needs to completely regenerate it...................The paths in Rhyddings are dangerous at the moment, doing them is long over due.

I know this is off thread but it is that sort of thread anyway so what the hell.

The estimates taken from the original lottery bid to drain the footpaths and field would barely be covered by this money. To resurface all the paths in the park while the drainage is being done would cost well over £250,000. These are massive sums of money that we could only have hoped to receive from a lottery grant. At the last friends meeting we put together a top ten hit list of works we need to do in the park. The top of the list is drainage and paths. The drainage has been a problem in the park for as long as most people can remember so its nothing we can blame on any recent Tory or Labour Councils.

As a group we are very pleased that the Council have committed themselves to begin improvement works on a park that has been neglected for many years. Two lottery bids have hampered improvement work in the park for almost the last 15 years. I can, to a point, understand why the Council would not want to spend large sums of money in a park they were hoping to receive a grant for. Unfortunately this has led to little improvement work being done in the park. About 6 years ago a new children's play area was installed in the park and several others in Hyndburn. I can't think of any improvement work in the park since that except for that The Friends of Rhyddings Park have been involved with. Yes we have had money from Hyndburn and Lancashire but only relatively small amounts.

The Friends are now working with HBC to try and address the concerns that local people have with their park. This is a big step forward and I hope it is only the first stage of many.

Sorry to prattle on but several of us are working hard and put many hours of our own time into improving the park to make it a better place for everyone. Only this evening I was telling the local Cub leader that the 1000's of daffs that the cubs planted are doing well and should be flowering soon.

[garinda]

Originally Posted by Gayle

...other parks have had basic maintenance done on them over the last ten years, this is just a catch up.

So are you saying the council deliberately held back money from Rhyddings Park, thus preventing essential maintenance from taking place, and therefore making the paths a danger for those who struggle with walking or with poor eyesight, in order to try and secure the magical lottery million, which thus far has been unsuccessful?

[garinda]

Originally Posted by Neil

The estimates taken from the original lottery bid to drain the footpaths and field would barely be covered by this money. To resurface all the paths in the park while the drainage is being done would cost well over £250,000. These are massive sums of money that we could only have hoped to receive from a lottery grant. At the last friends meeting we put together a top ten hit list of works we need to do in the park. The top of the list is drainage and paths. The drainage has been a problem in the park for as long as most people can remember so its nothing we can blame on any recent Tory or Labour Councils.

No one is knocking the work you personally, and the other Friends do. The evidence is there to be seen, and it's much appreciated.

However you are wrong. The drainage hasn't been a problem 'for as long as people can remember'.

True the park is on a hill, but in the past regular maintenance work was carrried out which ensured drainage wasn't a problem. Gulleys and drains weren't allowed to become choked up.

The same goes for the paths. There wouldn't be the need for such a massive budget now if regular amounts of money had been spent on upkeep and repair.

My memory of the park only stretches back to the mid sixties, but it has been allowed to fall into such a terible state because the council chose not to spend money on regular maintenance.

Strange how councils in the past, for nearly a hundred years, managed to do a much better job than is being done now.

If a winter storm blows a slate off your roof, you pay someone to replace it.

You don't wait until successive storms blow them all off, and then face the prospect of an expensive new roof.

[steeljack]

Originally Posted by garinda

No one is knocking the work you personally, and the other Friends do. The evidence is there to be seen, and it's much appreciated.

However you are wrong. The drainage hasn't been a problem 'for as long as people can remember'.

True the park is on a hill, but in the past regular maintenance work was carrried out which ensured drainage wasn't a problem. Gulleys and drains weren't allowed to become choked up.

The same goes for the paths. There wouldn't be the need for such a massive budget now if regular amounts of money had been spent on upkeep and repair.

My memory of the park only stretches back to the mid sixties, but it has been allowed to fall into such a terible state because the council chose not to spend money on regular maintenance.

Strange how councils in the past, for nearly a hundred years, managed to do a much better job than is being done now.

If a winter storm blows a slate off your roof, you pay someone to replace it.

You don't wait until successive storms blow them all off, and then face the prospect of an expensive new roof.

think you will find a similar situation with the Parks in other areas (towns) of Hyndburn , Gt Harwood's Memorial Park is in a similar situation , seems the 'old' UDCs had a better grasp/control of the local picture

[Neil]

Originally Posted by garinda

So are you saying the council deliberately held back money from Rhyddings Park, thus preventing essential maintenance from taking place, and therefore making the paths a danger for those who struggle with walking or with poor eyesight, in order to try and secure the magical lottery million, which thus far has been unsuccessful?

No Council would take deliberate actions to make a park unsafe and put residents at risk.

If the Council had spent a large amount of money on the paths, for example, and had then secured a grant, don't you think people would have accused them of wasting the money they had just spent when several of the paths could have been removed or re routed as part of the grant works?

[garinda]

Originally Posted by Neil

No Council would take deliberate actions to make a park unsafe and put residents at risk.

But it appears they have, and they are.

It seems rather an odd situation, hoping for a win on the lottery.

[jaysay]

Originally Posted by garinda

But it appears they have, and they are.

It seems rather an odd situation, hoping for a win on the lottery.

Well Rindi, to all intents and purposes this is the kind of thing the lottery was set up for, but it seems that the people dolling out these grants care more about funding diverse groups than for what it was meant. If councils over the years were to have funded the upkeep of the parks to the level required, the Rates/Council Tax would have had to increase proportionately. Its really a catch 22 situation your damned if you do and your damned if you do, but this problem isn't just confined to Hyndburn, its a national thing