The Friends of Bollington Recreation Ground are an energetic group of volunteers working to help keep the ‘Rec’ as a welcoming place for the benefit and enjoyment of the local community. Working in partnership with Cheshire East Council, who are responsible for the upkeep and maintenance of the ‘Rec’, the Friends help with improvements to the general environment and appearance. The ‘Rec’ is used regularly for football, cricket and bowls and the recently refurbished tennis courts are very popular in fine weather.
The Friends are keen to promote the enjoyment of a range of activities by the local community. With substantial investment from the Borough Council the ‘Rec’ received the prestigious Green Flag award (left) for 2008 and have retained this award for 2009! The ‘Rec’ was also the home base for the widely acclaimed Bollington Festival in May 2009. The Friends usually meet on the third Thursday of each month in the Pavilion at the ‘Rec’ to review progress with improvements and to plan future activities. The scope of the activities of the Friends also extends to cover the adjacent Adlington Road play area. Activities planned by the Friends include organising environmental surveys of flora and fauna, providing opportunities for local Schools to undertake nature studies and hold picnics and sports events, explore the possibility of providing improved skate boarding facilities, as well as helping with maintenance of wild flower areas, borders and general tidiness of the site. New volunteers are most welcome and should contact the Chairman of the Friends, John Kershaw, on 01625−560808 or come to one of the regular monthly meetings. Below - John Kershaw, left, and Michael Burdekin hold up the new FOBR flag with the support of other friends!
Friends meeting datesFriends of the Rec meetings will take place in the Pavilion on 16th September, 21st October (including AGM) at 7.30pm in the Pavilion. Next meeting: 7.30pm on Thursday 16th September 2010. Please join us at this meeting. Everyone with an interest in the Rec. is very welcome. Volunteer working partiesAlso please note that we will be looking for volunteer working parties now weather conditions have improved to help with weeding and general tidying of the Rec. Assistance will also be required to mount the various events scheduled for this summer.
Skate Park meetingsSummer 2010 Events!We have had some great fun events this summer! Big crowds of Bollington folk came along and enjoyed them. We have been blessed with reasonably good weather to help make a success of each event. Let's look forward to our next programme of events on the Rec!
RSPB Big Garden Bird WatchThe Friends took part in the National RSPB Big Garden Bird Watch as a start to a survey of some of the birds visiting the Rec. This took place on Saturday 30th and Sunday 31st January 2010. Volunteers did one hour stints recording how many and what birds they saw. We set up a bird feeding station and provided a proforma to record numbers of birds of different types. We watched the feeding station area for an hour each and one or two people checked the wooded areas and the bird boxes we installed last year. We used a page showing 20 common garden birds. Bird report - what has been spotted - see the last page of 17 June meeting minutes. Dog Awareness sessions
The Friends have organised a number of dog awareness sessions to be held on the Recreation Ground from March 2009. The purpose is to ensure that all dog owners who regularly walk their pets through the Recreation Ground fully understand what is expected of them with respect to maintaining control of their dog(s) and preventing fouling. The latter has at times been a serious problem but in more recent times the message is getting through that leaving fouling in the public areas is just not acceptable, as well as being illegal. The first session was held on the morning of 9th March. FOBR chairman John Kershaw together with the Macclesfield Borough Council Environmental Enforcement Officer, Tony Forrest, and dog Psychologist and Behaviourist, Joan Bradley, were joined by several volunteer Friends to intercept dog walkers, give them the MBC leaflet on the subject, and ensure that they all knew the rules. If you would like to support future dog awareness sessions please contact the Friends chairman, John Kershaw, on 01625−560808. Clubs making major use of the Recreation GroundThere are several clubs that make major use of the facilities of the Recreation Ground, some on a seasonal basis. They include ... Bollington Cricket Club - this thriving club fields nine teams from First XI to Under 11s. The First XI play in the Cheshire County Cricket League Division 1 - the best you can get at county level. Did you know that Bollington Recreation Ground was once the Cheshire County Cricket Ground? Amazing but true! See the club's excellent web site Bollington Bowling Club - Bollington Athletic Football Club - Tennis Club - Basketball -
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