Minutes & Annual Reports

HILLY FIELDS PARK USER GROUP MEETING
Date: 9 September 2008
Present: Rachel Mooney Chair
Mike Keogh Councillor
Chris Roberts Glendale
Keith Glendale
Peter Ranken Envirowork
Andrew Harper
Helen Mercer
Josh Franklin
Justin Bailey
Carol Bailey
Amanda Nelson
Keith Ward

Apologies: Jill Tritton, Marcus Fox, Ruth Pepper

1. EASTERN ROAD GATE ACCESS
Darren Budden has requested that Prendergasts see that the gate is locked and opened for their access. No confirmation if this is working. The gates have previously been managed and closed at night and reopened in morning.

2. MAINTENANCE AND REPAIRS
Tennis courts: Outstanding from March user group meeting: missing bolt to tennis court gate has still not been replaced. The surrounding mesh is upturned in places and balls could escape. The worn fencing is rusty and sharp. It should be assessed and repaired as necessary.
A tennis coaching session has been booked using one court on Saturday morning.
Group agreed that no more than one court should be booked for coaching as the courts are generally busy on Saturday morning. (coaching: 6th September-18th September and 8th November – 20th December 9-12pm). Situation could be
monitored. The principal of free tennis still applies on the courts, but if you want to book a court you can do for £4.50 through the Glendale office. Glendale will then print the booking and put the time it is booked on the court.
There had been unauthorised tennis coaching taking place on Saturday morning. Glendale to follow up.
Play Area: Outstanding from June User group meeting: The drop bolts on the double gates need to be fixed down, so that the single gates can be easily used.
Park Furniture and Notice Board: Martin Hyde had offered Hilly Fields a notice board or two if we used the style widely used by other parks. RM will email the details for discussion. It is suggested that one replaces the old community notice board (but relocated off top of hill) and a new one is positioned by the step entrance on Vicars Hill.
There has been no response from Darren Budden over the complaints about the siting of the memorial bench. It was suggested that maybe when the playground is redeveloped it could be relocated in the playground.
Cycle racks have appeared on top of Eastern Road. There was no discussion or warning that these would be installed. MK to follow up initially with Carol Crankshaw.
RM has been offered a chess table for free (since have confirmed they will want installation costs). The group thought it was a good idea if a suitable location could be found. To be discussed out of meeting on site.
Footpaths and Roads: Lewisham Cycling Officer was trying to designate the north south path, from top of Tyrwhitt Road to Toilet block as a cylce route. This would enable it to be resurfaced. Some concern about speeding cyclists but generally thought that the situation would not be different from present conditions. This appears to be the only way to get paths resurfaced. The footpaths are in increasingly poor condition and there are many ruts and holes thought to be deeper than 50mm. CR said that funding did not stretch around all the parks and there were parks in worst condition than Hilly Fields. CR agreed to contact services manager and ask for priority repair work on paths.
Glendale to explore rodding drains as they clearly were not working. CR
The surplus timber edging with its herras fencing had been left for over 3 months on the grass. MK to follow up with cycle officer Carol Crankshaw to see if job was signed off and when materials would be removed.
Trees: Glendale have an oak in the depot that can be planted at top of hill as replacement for the Brockley Oak. An Acer campestre was also offered last year it was still wanted. It was requested that the new trees were planted with a metal mesh around trunk to avoid damage from dogs.
A tree (on bank of cricket field) damaged in storms some months ago has a broken limb and needs attention. CR confirmed that Glendale would take care of this.
AN had looked into the tree strategy. It was agreed to contact Rick Farr and meet on site to discuss how to progress. It was thought that the tree section had now mapped many of the park’s trees. This would be a good starting point to put together the tree strategy and approach for future planting.
PR offered the park some mature Nothogafus antartica. The group agreed to consider a suitable location, but raised concern that it would not be well maintained.
Generally felt that existing trees were not properly maintained.
Grass/Meadow: Concern that the clover is taking over grass and there are fewer daisies than previously. At the last meeting we were told Glendale were looking to do weekly cuts, but no timescale for parks. CR said that their contract finished in 2010 and the grass cutting was not likely to change.
The main meadow is due to be cut in September, an area will be left for grass hoppers over wintering.
There were areas that have been left as meadow over time, which were recently cut and the very long arisings left. This area either needs to be maintained as meadow and arisings lifted or it needs to be mown with rest of grass. MK suggested arisings are raked to side and used as mulch and nutrients for the new hedge. This could be a community event or part of the green gym programme. RM looking into this.
Shrubs and Hedges: The brambles have been cut back from boundary and pavement. Generally brambles need heavy pruning and some removal. Resident by entrance had complained about brambles looking untidy. Suggested that the entrance corner could be cleared of bramble. The hedge on this stretch had already been cut back.
Has been previous requests to maintain hedge to back of Cliffview Road. It is leggy and some stretches not performing as a hedge. KW to consult RSPB on whether hedge should be reduced in height and timing etc. Hedge and associated planting is used by large population of house sparrows.

3. HILLY FIELDS PARK WEBSITE
There was little progress because of other demands on time and Chris was happy for someone else to take it on. He could go through what has been done so far.

4. LEWISHAM COMMUNITY SPORTS
The noise from the amplifier was improved this year but still too loud. Instructions could be heard from neighbouring houses. It was not limited to the beginning and end of the day as we had been told in previous meeting.
Queried why music needed to be played at all. Community Sports said to set the atmosphere.
JF investigating a system to enable noise to project to limited area.
A half term scheme will run from 27th October to 31st October. It will be based in sports hall on Adelaide Avenue.

5. DEVELOPMENT ISSUES
Playground bid for funding update: A Changing Places Grant for £50K has been submitted and we will hear if we have passed the stage 1 application at the end of September. It is not known what stage 2 entails.
The Playbuilder application has been submitted to the council and everyone has now been invited to an event on Saturday morning to present our scheme. Two local parents who initiated the petition are putting a power point presentation together and will present. RM will attend too.
Bird Champion update: KW explained the project and his involvement. He requested help with feeding the
bird feeder. HM and JB volunteered and all will liaise. KW has set up a blog for the bird champion project, at
http://hillyfields.blogspot.com/. KW is also looking into site called birdtrack and how we can all input data for the
park.

6. CAFE
Van had moved to more prominent location and would move closer to toilet block but Conway’s timber is blocking the space. Despite the poor weather he had picked up business from the Community Sports. He was not serving the healthy food discussed in café meeting. Suggested he could have served fresh smoothies to children rather than the canned drinks.
More litter bins or a larger bin was needed by the van.
Perry Peters had seen Lewisham and Glendale with his café proposal for converting the toilet block. RM will circulate post meeting. There was also interest from the Manor Park Café in the site. Agreed that a café sub committee should progress brief for any future development.

7. DOGS
Confirmed park keeper with backup are responsible for clearing up dog fouling.

8. ENVIROWORK UPDATE
ECB had approved their strategy and wanted to use it as a blueprint for other cricket development projects. The plan is to use the containers as changing rooms and the Bothy for cricket teas. The Institute of Groundsmanship have prepared a report on Hilly Fields and Mayow Park. They assessed the site advised on work to be carried out to bring the cricket wicket and outfield up to scratch. If Envirowork could get confirmation from Lewisham by end of September they would start preparing the cricket wicket in October.In the meantime the Bothy is being used for storage space by Envirowork.

9. AOB
There has been a suggestion that designated areas for barbecues are set up and users given a permit. Wendy previously has had problems with used barbecues being put in the bin alight and excessive rubbish being left.
Generally there have been quite a lot of cars in the park over the summer and some parking on the grass. This is not acceptable as the park is one of the few places children can roam without expecting to come across traffic. Everyone should limit the time they bring cars into park and could park on Eastern Road rather than in the park, as it also sets a bad precedent for other car drivers. RM to follow up with Lewisham.
Events: Generally considered the children’s fun fair was held for too long. The park had limited access from both the Community Sports and fair at same time. As last year the fair arrived without notice to group. We asked last year if there could be any funding for park improvements from the fair and had no reply. We are told that Jimmy Button is happy to pay a contribution to park, but have no idea what is under consideration. The fair also parked over the cricket square.
Last year the fair damaged grass moving out. This was repaired, but recently there was a comment from footballers that it is still uneven; probably due to settlement of ground post repair. It was suggested that any money goes towards a new drinking fountain. General agreement that this is by the loo block and has a lower bowl for dogs to drink from. RM to research drinking fountain and prices.
Glendale have been approached by someone wanting to run an arts fair in park. RM to find out more details of what this entails, before group can comment.

NOTE CHANGE OF VENUE TO ENABLE ACCESS ALONG AN ILLUMINATED PATH!
NEXT MEETING 2nd December 2008 7.30 IN THE PARK KEEPER’S ROOM BY THE TOILET BLOCK
Post meeting note
RSPB confirm that it would be suitable to trim hedge to around 2m x .75m width in late winter. Agreed with Glendale, first third (from Vicars Hill) to be cut this season along with self seeded sycamore and ash and other sections programmed in for following year.

HILLY FIELDS PARK USER GROUP MEETING
Date: 10 June 2008
Present: Rachel Mooney Chair
Mike Keogh Councillor
Darrell Abercrombie Glendale
Peter Ranken Envirowork
Andrew Harper
Ruth Pepper
Helen Mercer
Symon Knightswood
Alison Cogger
Josh Franklin
Marcus Fox
Amanda Nelson
Perry Peters

Apologies: Jill Tritton, Trottie Kirwan

1. LEWISHAM COMMUNITY SPORTS
There will be a 6 week course running over the summer with 20 different activities. They have permission to put a marquee by stone circle for the duration of course. They will use the PA for directing in and out in morning and at end of day. If the PA is used at any other time, the time should be monitored and reported on that day. They have taken down the old signs and small boards as requested and will minimise signage in park.

2. DEVELOPMENT ISSUES
Woodland/Conservation Area: the work has just been completed. The edging boards were not straight and needed more staking. It was felt it is in keeping with the character of the area. The stag beetle information board does not enhance the character of the area. It was suggested that it could be moved to a central location near the toilet block. To review with Lewisham.
Meadow: there is still interest in idea for a community harvest event. Suggested that meadow could be cut and Green Gym could harvest with other volunteers. It may be possible to find an organisation interested in harvesting the seed. There was a query that the meadow sign was generic and not specific to site. Particularly the mammals listed. Glendale confirmed that the plants related to the new plug planting.
Community Fund: bat and bird boxes (from 07 fund monies) have been made by students at Prendergasts. Glendale to confirm if they have been put up. There are some more bird boxes, donated by the RSPB to the park. They will be put up for next season.
Playground: an application for playbuilder funding has been put in to the council. The draft design brief was circulated and would be emailed out for comments. The group will also put in an application for a lottery grant, Changing Places.
A group of local parents had also begun a very successful petition to campaign for the playground. This has been used as supporting information in the application.
Lewisham Community Sports commented that their children and young people would be interested in more assault course type equipment in park.
Café: PP explained his interest in developing a café in the existing park-keeper’s building or even a new build. The group were supportive of café in park, but would want to agree a brief for the nature of food etc. It was suggested to form a café sub committee to move this forward. AN agreed to lead on this. It was suggested that PP contact Martin Hyde at Greenscene in the first place. As this is a long term project it was suggested that there should be a tea van in the interim.
Notice boards: Still looking into new notice boards. Brockley Station board purchased through council. It was not a great looking board and felt could find something better or commission one. Still thinking of having two new boards, one on Vicars Hill entrance and one near tennis courts. Existing board to be removed to keep the clear open aspect on top of hill, looking towards Docklands. Agreed to put brief together for notice board and PP offered to contact Lewisham College to look into a bespoke design for park.

3. Maintenance and Repairs
Footpaths and Roads: Some footpath resurfacing has taken place. Funding was available for cycle routes and this path is to be part of a designated cycle route. Lewisham Cycling Officer is trying to create a link between Nunhead and Ladywell. The quality of work was queried and whether it had been signed off. There was a lot of stone left on grass verges, the grass was not reinstated and there was a foot trap sized gap by the wonky sleeper shrub bed and the path. MK to follow up with Carol Crankshaw.
AH to follow up contact with cycle officer Carol Crankshaw, over designation of cycle routes.
Petition for resurfacing of footpaths was handed in my Cllr Keogh on behalf of the group at council meeting.
Trees: Broc Soc have confirmed that they want to plant an Oak on top of hill towards playground. Despite promises, another planting season been missed. DA said Glendale would plant a container grown tree now if we wished. RM thought that it was better to wait until autumn so that it would not have to rely on such good maintenance. The park had also been offered a field maple and they want this planting in autumn too. The group intend to do a tree strategy, but had not had time. They planned to meet Rick Farr on site, in future. AN offered to find out if Greenwich Park had tree policy to see if we could use for a base.
Grass/Meadow: There were two large tyre size ruts in the grass. The grass has now grown up and they are nearly impossible to see. DA has info and said repairs were due.
There is concern that clover is taking over the grass and it was a result of the fortnightly cuts. Glendale is looking into doing weekly cuts in future. No timescale for park.
Lewisham Community Sports need the grass shorter for sports and so they can see debris especially glass in grass. Josh to coordinate with Chris at Glendale. It was requested to cut access through swathes of long grass, especially as they were popular areas of dog fouling.
Shrubs and Hedges: Brambles on Vicars Hill need to be cut back off pavement. Mike Keogh wants to be contacted to supervise this work. Had been previous requests to maintain hedge to back of Cliffview Road. It is leggy and some stretches not performing as a hedge. There were suggestions that it could be layered. RM to follow up with Lewisham
Tennis courts: The leaning post has been fixed. The missing bolt to tennis court gate has still not been replaced.
Play Area: Chain from equipment outside play area has been replaced. The drop bolts on the double gates need to be fixed down, so that the single gates can be easily used.
Memorial Bench: There has been no response from Darren Budden over the complaints about the siting of the memorial bench.

4. EASTERN ROAD
There has still been no progress on gate locking. Can Glendale and Prendergasts resolve this problem. DA to confirm if the gate is on Glendale’s locking route. A sign is needed to say when it will be locked.
5. DOGS
Glendale have put up posters in boards re “offence for fouling”. Regarding the dog fouling issues at Hilly Fields. If the Park Keeper receives or reports that dog fouling is becoming a problem. Firstly the cleansing team will visit the site. If the problems continues and people are refusing to collect dog waste, Glendale’s Park Patrol can visit the site and issue a fixed penalty.

6. COMMUNICATION
A website is being set up by Chris Wheal. Any suggestions for content welcome. Have no timetable for completion to date.

6. Envirowork
No further progress on the farmer’s market using the Bothy for market. Cricket Ground is still being prepared. Suggested better signage is used to stop people using it in the meantime. Mike Gatting of ECB has visited the cricket ground and was impressed with proposals. If the scheme can be shown to be sustainable ECB will support with a loan. The scheme would have changing rooms and tea room in the Bothy site.

7. AOB
The table tennis table is in use, but it is not level. Suppliers said that it would “self level”, but this does not make sense as there is no reason for it to differentially settle. To be monitored and reviewed.
There are still cars from the Saturday football driving onto the grass. These should be reported to Glendale. Cars or motorbikes illegally driving in the park should be reported to community police.

NOTE CHANGE OF VENUE TO ENABLE ACCESS ALONG AN ILLUMINATED PATH!
NEXT MEETING 9TH September 2008 7.30 IN THE PARK KEEPER’S ROOM BY THE TOILET BLOCK

HILLY FIELDS PARK USER GROUP MEETING
Date: 11 March 2008

Present:   Rachel Mooney       Chair
Mike Keogh       Councillor
Chris Roberts        Glendale
Wendy Attilla       Glendale
Andrew Harper
Ruth Pepper
Helen Mercer

Apologies: Peter Ranken Envirowork, Jill Tritton

1. DOGS
Dog fouling seems to have got worse over last year.
Glendale to put up posters in boards offence for fouling. Suggested have an awareness week to improve situation. Some dog owners were known offenders.
RM to follow up with Glendale.

2. MAINTENANCE AND REPAIR
Tennis courts: the missing post and nets had been replaced. Post has defect and leaning. Still needs fixing.
A bolt is needed for the tennis court gate, so that it will close.
Play Area: Chain from equipment outside play area was still missing. CR to chase up and confirm what is happening.
Railings have been painted.
Request for more sand for sandpit.
Notice boards: Offered notice board was too small, suggested that Mike Keogh use it at Bothy. Possibly have two new boards, one on Vicars Hill entrance and one near tennis courts. Existing board to be removed, this would keep the clear open aspect on top of hill, looking towards Docklands.
AH commented on new notice board at Brockley Station. He will photograph and send to RM. RM to find costs from BCAG.
Have been some improvements with less fly posting in park. Lewisham Community Sports were prolific with their posters, including obscuring other current information in notice board.
Also noted how loud their PA was during events. It could be heard as far as Undercliff Road. CR would contact to ask them to calm it down. Also to be less prolific with posters. CR to pass Philips Screw driver onto Wendy, so that she can access notice boards.
Footpaths and Roads: Still no progress on future repair and funding. The cycle route is most likely to get funding for resurfacing. AH to follow up contact with cycle officer Carol Crankshaw, over designation of cycle routes.
RM to contact Sue Luxton, confirm whether she had any further information from cycle officer.
Petition being circulated to hi-light problem and bring it to attention of the Deputy Mayor and Cabinet Member for Regeneration, Heidi Alexander. Petition handed out.
Trees: Despite promise that it would be planted this January, the Brockley Society Oak had not been planted. Broc Soc will now confirm if they want to replant with an Oak on top of hill towards playground or a Field Maple near original planting.
Grass/Meadow: No complaints registered on grass cutting.
A second volunteer meadow planting will take place on 29th March.
Landlife to give management advice on meadow.
There will be a new interpretation sign. RM requested that old one was taken away.
Community suggestion that meadow cutting could be a summer community event has been looked into by CR and Lara. CR to research someone who could cut with scythes. Maybe gathering aspect could be communal and involve school.
Shrubs and Hedges: Brambles on Vicars Hill are being cut back away pavement. Mike Keogh to be informed when work is done, so that he can advise on position of hedge plants.
Had been previous requests to maintain hedge to back of Cliffview Road. It is leggy and not performing as a hedge. It had previously been suggested that it could be cut in stages and adjacent residents were informed. There is concern that the leggy plants growing into trees will mean a loss of habitat for birds. The boundary has a large sparrow population, which should be encouraged. Glendale are about to miss the season for cutting, as nesting is about to start. It is thought that most of the hedge has not been touched for over 8 years.
The Woodland: Work will be starting this spring on new timber steps with new evenly spaced timber risers and handrail and a hoggin footpath with edging. Funding is from Natural England Grant.

3. EASTERN ROAD
The gate is not consistently locked. Can Glendale and Prendergasts resolve this problem.

4. DEVELOPMENT ISSUES
Meadow, see meadow notes in section 2
St Andrew Youth Club did get in touch. Members were low and she did not think they would have enough to do a theatre production. RM suggested that it could be a project to help increase membership. Would pick up idea again for next year.
The Ladywell Localities fund has awarded the User Group the money for the table tennis table. It will be located by the tennis courts.
The new bowling green gate should be in place for new bowling season. It is wider and higher than original gate. This is in part to make visibility into the club better and also to prevent people lifting over their children and dogs to gain access to the green.
There should be a list of all grants available in main library. AH offered to trawl through to see if there was anything available that could be applied to for park.
Intend to put together a bid for the playground in 2008. The full amount would be difficult to get from one source. The government has announced £235million to spend on play in England, so we will be looking to local authority to request money for Hilly Fields.
Suggested that if water fountain cannot be installed in playground, for time being, then could investigate a wall mounted drinking fountain by the toilet block, where we know there are services. RM to look into options.

4. Events
Meadow planting 29th March 08

5. COMMUNICATION
A website is being set up by Chris Wheal. Any suggestions for content welcome.
Have also set up a googlemail friends of Hilly Field Park

7. AOB
A better system for Christmas tree clearance is needed for next year. Apart from unsightliness and attracting fly tipping, the trees ended up scattered on neighbouring streets and blocked the footpath.
Query on who had agreed new bench, in location that had previously been kept clear of benches with back and in a style unlike other benches in park. RM confirmed that Darren Budden had gone ahead with allowing bench and position. He had only passed on info out of ‘courtesy’. The position was described as overlooking the playground, which was not how current position would normally be described. RM confirmed that he had been told that the group had discussed memorial benches and did not want them in park. Particularly as they had been advised that they were a bad idea resulting in an excess of benches. RM had sent a letter complaining about approach and subsequent state of bench with memorial poems etc. Passerby had asked if someone had died there. AH will also send letter of complaint.
A fitness trainer is doing exercise classes in the park and therefore technically running their business in the park. To be monitored.
Litter from students lunching in the park was a big problem last year and needs to be addressed if it happens again.
There is still a problem with students leaving cigarette butts and litter near tennis courts.

NOTE CHANGE OF VENUE TO ENABLE ACCESS ALONG AN ILLUMINATED PATH!
NEXT MEETING 10TH June 2008 7.30 IN THE PARK KEEPER’S ROOM BY THE TOILET BLOCK

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