Happy New Year From the Chairman

Used by kind permission of the Middlewich Guardian

On behalf of myself and the committee I wish everyone in Middlewich a happy and prosperous 2013. 2012 got us off to a good start and the support from the entire community in Middlewich has been great. 2013 looks like it is going to be a very exciting year and one in which we have the opportunity to make a positive change. Starting very soon we will be starting the public consultation on Fountain Fields, Booth Lane and Moss Drive parks. We are working with Alison at Middlewich Vision to make this happen and a big thanks to her is needed here, she has worked very hard in the background on this.

We will soon start planing some action to be carried out on Sycamore Drive with the community that the park there serves. We had a slight setback there when we lost a funding bid with one charity which was disappointing, but I am sure that there will be more opportunities in the future and we learned a few valuable lessons from where we went wrong there.

The support from the townspeople has been great and I know that there are a good few of you ready to spring into action, please be patient we are currently looking at funding sources for aesthetic improvements to other parks, and what we can do as a community to improve things ourselves. If you want to get involved please email me the more people taking an active part in RAMP the better, we have a large number of parks and they all need some form of improvement work.

I will be arranging an open meeting during January to discuss a Spring Offensive, all towns people will be welcome.

Thank you

Karl

Volunteers Needed To Help - Spring Offensive

Picture used by Kind Permission of the Middlewich Guardian

We are planning a spring offensive to start showing just how much Middlewich as a community can come together and do something for the greater good.

Plans for some aesthetic improvements for the Play Park on Sycamore Drive are being formulated with the help of a resident who has volunteered to be the Park Coordinator for that area.
We are also looking at creating action lists for each park not just the 3 that will be part of the public consultation with Middlewich Vision & Cheshire East Parks.

The innital stages of the program will be to improve the environment within and arround the parks as this is something the community can get actively involved in. The next stages will be to highlight other areas for improvement such as equipment refurbishment, repair and replacement.

Anyone wishing to contribute please email me and we can start moving forwards.

Thank You

Karl (Chairman - Residents Association for Middlewich Park)

Middlewich Parks News November 2012

The Residents Association for Middlewich Parks started in September 2012, and has grown from humble beginnings to a fully fledged independent campaigning group with a written constitution. 

Results of Audit (60% = acceptable condition)

In a sort period of time from the formation of the group, we have completed a set of audits on most of the Play Parks in the town. The puropse of these audits was to present a factual account of the standard of the playparks within the town and use the results to campaign for funding and resources to improve them to and acceptable standard.

These audits showed that most of the parks fell below what the residents of Middlewich would feel to be an acceptable standard. Graffiti, Fouling, Litter, Lack of Equipment and Lack Of Maintenance were all recurring features within the play parks. 

The results of the audits were passed onto Cheshire East Borough Council Parks by one of our Local Town Councillors to highlight the issues and campaign for action.

Moss Drive Park with Rt. Hon. Fiona Bruce MP
Image courtesy of The Middlewich Guardian

On the political side we have been successful in gaining all party support, including a significant statement of support from our Local MP the Rt. Hon Fiona Bruce

In the new year we will be working with Middlewich Vision, Cheshire East Borough Council Parks and Middlewich Town Council on a public consultation for the following Parks, Fountain Fields, Booth Lane & Moss Drive, ending in March 2013. 

As part of this we will also be looking at what additional funding we can raise from other sources alongside Middlewich Vision. We hope that by the end of 2013 these parks will be up to an acceptable standard and then we can move onto the other 9 parks and continuing the work on making sure that our Children’s needs are met by all the play parks in the town. This we feel is a positive step and a reward for the efforts put in by the people of Middlewich in highlighting the problems with our parks, and the efforts of both the Town Council & Middlewich Vision.

On top of that we are also planning a spring offensive on the park on Sycamore Drive involving as many members of the community as possible. This work will initially involve a good clean up as well as highlighting any issues to Cheshire East Council. We would like to extend this community action to the other parks in the town and would very much like to hear from any potential volunteers who would like to lead any activities surrounding the parks that service their areas.

Anyone wishing to be involved in any of these activities please feel free to email us for more details