Chairman’s Report. 4th October 2018

Last Wednesday it was a pleasure to attend an event organised by the Shepton Snowdrop Festival outlining their plans for the coming months. This Saturday (6th October) there will be a snowdrop sale in Tesco between 10am and 4pm, and on the following Saturday the organisers will be holding a planting day.  People will have the opportunity to buy and plant snowdrops at St Peter and St Paul’s Church and at Highfield House, and then can record their efforts in a memory book.  If you are interested in joining in, please contact the Snowdrop Festival at admin@sheptonsnowdropfestival.org.uk, or to find out more go to www.sheptonsnowdropfestival.org.uk

The Journal recently reported the good news that Collett Park is the first open space in our district to be awarded the coveted Green Flag award. This is a tremendous recognition of the Council’s progression in working with its partners. We have a growing range of activities in our park. This includes the long-standing Drifters Boat Club, but now also the well attended weekly Parkrun (soon to be joined by the Junior Parkrun), other cross-country running events, music concerts, a visiting circus, the Collett Festival celebration in June, through to the Christmas Lantern Festival, and of course the popular Collett Park Café. The Collett Park Management Committee, acting for the Park Charity,  now plans to make important improvements to ensure that our park continues to be the jewel in Shepton’s crown.

We held a series of well-attended and successful public consultations this summer, where we asked people what they want for Collett Park in the future. The Park Management Committee has been considering the range of comments you have made and how best to proceed, combining the best ideas from your suggestions and the feasibility study we had on display.

It is important for the Committee to work with people who love Collett Park and want to see it flourish.  One key aspect of this involvement will be the creation of the ‘Friends of Collett Park’.  The park has a limited staff resource, so it is hoped a new voluntary group will be keen to help us devise a new planting plan for the park, but importantly help carry out the vital tree, shrub and flower border planting, as well as any other tasks the group feels competent to do. The Friends group will also have potential to fund-raise and organise events to benefit the park and park users.  The Friends will be a vital contributor and sounding board for the Committee when developing the park into the future.

I am keen to hear from those green fingered people who love our park and want to form that important Friends team.  Please contact me (cllr.C.Inchley@SheptonMallet-TC.gov.uk) or the Collett Park Committee Chair, Garfield Kennedy (cllr.G.Kennedy@SheptonMallet-TC.gov.uk).  Collett Park is a wonderful asset for our town, and together we can make it even better.