Friends of Ruskin Park

Chair  Veronica Hardstaff - 64 Linaker Road, Sheffield S6 (Tel. 233 5414)

Secretary  Barbara Waterhouse - 106 Cromwell Street, Walkley, Sheffield S6 (Tel. 233 9805)

Minutes of the meeting of the Friends of Ruskin Park, held on Thursday, 6th November at 7.45 p.m.

Present :  Councillor Veronica Hardstaff (Chair), Deb Loasby, Fraser McDermott, Barbara Waterhouse, Brenda Wren, Louise Gower

Apologies :  Rosemary and Max Telfer, Jillian Missen (SCC), Andrew Cannon, Sue and Chris Ireland, Jonathan Harston, Diane Leek

1)     Minutes of the AGM 23rd September, 2003
These were agreed as a correct record. Fraser pointed out that he is no longer a Ranger.

2)     Matters arising
MUGA resurfacing is done and looking good.

Some feedback was received following the display of the latest plans at St. Mary’s School and Walkley Library. The Record playground layout seems to be the most popular scheme, though each scheme had some support.

3)     Bulb planting
No information available at present.

4)     Next steps – funding for playground improvements
We need to get in touch with the lottery funding body and ask them to meet with us to discuss whether or not our bid is worth pursuing. Fraser will make the initial contact.                                                                                                           Action: F McDermott

Joanne Holland is aware that we will be contacting her regarding a lease. Veronica will follow up this.                                                                    Action: V Hardstaff

5)     Any other business
The football pitch is another area of concern to us. Fraser has put the football area forward to the Football Foundation as a possible project, but has not pursued this vigorously at this point, as refurbishing the playground is our first priority. The football pitch needs to have a proper drainage system installed and also needs to be fenced. Drainage, levelling and reseeding would be likely to cost in the region of £20,000. Costs of fencing are not known, but likely to be considerable.

Dog pooh is a big problem at the moment both on the football pitch and elsewhere. We discussed the possibility of resiting the existing dog bins. It would be helpful to survey the park to identify thhe worst affected areas to see whether or not this would help. Veronica will contact the dog patrol to see of they could offer further advice or help.                                                                                                                Action: V Hardstaff

Louise wondered if St. Mary’s School could be interested in holding a fundraising day to raise money for the park.  She will try to contact the teacher in charge of the school football team to discuss the school’s needs for improvements and to see if the teacher in question would be interested in such a project.           Action: L Gower

The possibility of holding a fundraising event during Walkley Festival was discussed. The 2004 Festival will take place from Saturday 21^st June till Sunday 4^th July. We need to start planning this soon.

We need to look into the possibility of setting up a limited company for funding purposes. Information on this is available from Companies House. Barbara will try to find out more.                                                                   Action: B Waterhouse

6)     Date and time of next meeting

Tuesday, 16^th December. 7.45 p.m. at the Royal Hotel, Walkley St.