Preparation ...

Work has already begun in the park! In case you are wondering what is going on, here's a brief outline: 

The council are putting in a path along the bottom of the park to allow vehicle access to the community garden for Rollo, the contractor who will be working there, in order to avoid damage to the grass. Hardcore for the path will be delivered to the car parking spaces on Bankfoot, & moved into the park by diggers.  

Rollo will be clearing the area by the container in preparation for putting a patio in front of it and moving the soil mound into the garden area to level it. They will also be clearing the area just inside & to the left of the park gates. 

It's exciting to have work starting so soon - well done to all the highly organised people who have made it happen! 

Update

Happy New Year, everyone!

All has seemed quiet over the autumn & winter, but there has been a lot going on behind the scenes, including successful funding applications & helpful meetings with the council.

Funding has been successfully applied for from East Lothian Council's Civic Pride Fund; The Coalfields Regeneration Trust and the Preston Seton Gosford (PSG) Area Partnership. These funds will make a huge difference to the park & will be used for various projects, such as the following:

• Opening the bricked up passageway in the corner of the community garden & putting in a gate, allowing easy access from the main road, by the small car park.
• Putting slabs down on the area in front of the container, to allow for a useful community space (with a beautiful outdoor table donated from the old power station). 
• Resurfacing the community garden paths with a much more resilient & low-maintenance surface.
• Soft planting around the garden & park. 
• More seating around the park.
• Signage at the nearby road junctions & on the road outside the park gates. 
• Dog waste bins.
• Re-opening the path from the park to Prestongrange Museum (this may take a while to finalise, but the funds are in place. The council is negotiating with the golf course.)
• Possibly including paths through the length of the park allowing disabled access (depending on funds remaining & whether the Prestongrange path is undertaken this year or left until next year.)

So, all in all, it's looking like there is a great year ahead for the park! 

We hope to have a meeting in the next month or so to plan some events for the park, & we'd love for more people to be involved, so please get in touch if you'd like to help plan/organise/advertise/run anything.

Also, for those of you who have been responsible for a raised bed over the past year, please let me know whether you'd like to continue for the next year, or not.  

We may have a community bed that anyone can help with & that the community can harvest together at the end of the growing season. Let us know if you'd be interested in this.

Hope to see some of you soon.

Best wishes,

Carole

Secretary, Friends of Cuthill Park

Book about Parks

It is a horrid rainy day.  Perfect to curl up with a book.  How about these?

Shark in the Park on a Windy Day! by Nick Sharratt

 

 

A Walk in the Park by Anthony Browne

Spot's Walk in the Woods : A Rebus Book by Eric Hill

 

 

 

 

Rabbits in the Park: A Book of Colours by Natalie Russell

Shortlist announced for UK's Best Park

THREE parks from across the UK have been shortlisted following a nationwide search by Fields in Trust, to find a green space worthy of claiming the title of 'UK's Best Park' - sadly, Cuthill Park wasn't one of them.

The three parks, located in Aberdeen, Worcester and Telford, were selected after they each received the most number of public votes following 122 parks being nominated for the title. 

Over eight thousand public votes were cast throughout the voting process.

The 'UK's Best Park' award forms part of the charity's annual awards ceremony which takes place at Lord's Cricket Ground in London on Wednesday 2nd December and celebrates the great work being done in parks and playgrounds across the UK. Eleven awards will be handed out on the night, with this being the first year that the ceremony has featured a category voted entirely by the public.

The search for the country's best park started around a month ago when communities across the country were encouraged to nominate and vote for their favourite local park, sports field or playground they believed would be worthy of the title.

The parks shortlisted are:

Duthie Park in Aberdeen
Owned by Aberdeen City Council, the park was nominated by Aberdeen-based parenting blogger, Lifewithmunchers.com who said "Not only is it host to regular events for the city, but as the home of the Winter gardens, boating pond, vast green areas and the most outstanding kids' play areas, this park is a great all rounder for a family day out".

Gheluvelt Park in Worcester
Owned by Worcester City Council, the park was nominated by the council because of its interactive water feature, play area surrounded by well maintained gardens a natural area with exercise equipment and views of the River Severn. The park is protected with Fields in Trust as a Centenary Field.

Telford Town Park in Shropshire
Owned by Telford & Wrekin Council, the park was nominated by a member of 'Friends of Telford Town Park', a group which started in 2003 to help give the park extra care and attention. A member of the friends group nominated the park because of the range of attractions new play features, a sensory garden a fantastic mix of biodiversity and nature reserve as well as the more formal gardens. "Something for everyone in other words". A section of the field is protected with FIT as a Queen Elizabeth II Field.

The winner of the 'UK's Best Park' title will be announced at the awards ceremony on Wednesday 2nd December in London.

Fields in Trust, which was founded 90 years ago by King George V, has a mission to ensure that everyone – young or old, able-bodied or disabled and wherever they live – should have access to free, local outdoor space for sport, play and recreation.

Helen Griffiths, Fields in Trust Chief Executive said: "Our annual awards celebrate the contributions and achievements of people and organisations who are passionate about green spaces and we thought what better way to reflect this than to have an award category voted by the public.

"We have been overwhelmed by the response we have received to the 'UK's Best Park' award, both with the number of nominations we received and the number of votes cast. What it tells us is that people really do care about their local parks and they are passionate about what they are used for. This was also reflected in some recent research we carried out which revealed that 95% of people believe that parks and play areas should be protected from development."

Other categories at the annual awards ceremony, include, Fields in Trust Community Champion which celebrates advocates of green spaces across the UK, as well as Best Play Initiative to reward those who have encouraged more play and increase usage of a site.

Helen, continued: "All of our candidates shortlisted for our awards ceremony are worthy winners. We wish them all the very best of luck on Wednesday!"

More about the awards can be found online.

Think that Cuthill Park is the best in the country?

Voting for the UK's Best Park, as voted by YOU! is now open!

You can vote for any of the nominated parks as the UK's Best Park before the vote closes at 5pm on Wednesday 25th November.

The three parks with the most votes will then be shortlisted with the winning park announced at the Fields in Trust Awards Ceremony at Lord's Cricket Ground on Wednesday 2nd December.

Cuthill Park is one of only 9 parks in Scotland to be nominated.

We are proud of how much has been achieved in a relatively short space of time and really hope everyone in East Lothian will get behind us and cast their vote (it doesn't take long!) for Cuthill Park.

Click here to vote.

Top 2 Attractions in Prestonpans!

We are on Trip Advisor!

We are officially the second most popular attraction in Prestonpans (after Prestongrange Museum)!!!!!!

We'd love it if you could leave us a review!

The Grand Opening!

Today was the Grand Opening of the play area & community garden in Cuthill Park, combined with the Big Lunch, organised by the Prestongrange & Cuthill Tenants & Residents Group and the Friends of Cuthill Park. The weather was beautiful and the park was full of people from the local community. 

Willie Innes, the head of East Lothian Council, spoke of the journey the park has been on, from a neglected area to what we see today.

Stuart Pryde of East Lothian Council was also in attendance, and his contribution to the progress of the park over the past years was recognised. 

The ribbon, held by Veronica Davidson of PCTRG and Zoe Inglis of the Friends of Cuthill Park, was cut by Josh Taylor, our local Olympic Boxer, watched by Stuart Pryde & Willie Innes. 

Some of the people who have helped in the development of the various aspects of the park: 

Left to right - Stuart Pryde, ELC; Zoe Inglis, chair of FoCP; Veronica Davidson, PCTRG; Josh Taylor, who grew up playing in and around Cuthill Park; Cllr Willie Innes, ELC; and Elders Green & Hornberger of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons), representing Elders & Sisters from the LDS church who have helped in the park on various projects over the past 3 years. Our grateful thanks go to all of our volunteers! 

Following the formal opening there were activities running the length & breadth of the park. 

Sack races and parachute games were organised by Martin Whitfield.

East Coast FM provided music, entertainment, & giant bears, and were invaluable in announcing events. 

The library ran their BookBug Rhymetime session in the park. 

More races, including Tattie Tossing & Welly Whanging followed, with prizes given out by Josh Taylor. 

A wonderful day of community celebration! Thank you to everyone who came, and especially to everyone who has given their time, talents and means over the years to help Cuthill Park to become what it is today.