Preston Park

Preston Park management group met this morning with some good news and some sad.  The good news was mostly already public - the successful bid for lottery funding to restore the walled Kitchen Garden and orchard.  Preparation work is already underway on the ground for that.  One discordant note is the loss of a walnut tree, aged something between 70 and 200 years old.  Apparently walnuts are very difficult to age accurately because they're very slow growing, hence the latitude.  The loss of this one has upset some people and wasn't well handled.  It wasn't on the plans of the orchard so was assumed to be relatively young and therefore would need to be removed in order to restore the orchard.  But its removal hadn't been flagged up and discussed in advance so when it went some people thought vandals had done it, others assumed some clandestine plot.  The remnants of the tree are now maturing in readiness for the wood turners and carvers to produce "Park Made" items for sale in the shop once it reopens.
The rest of the work seems to be rattling on apace, and there's much excitement.  The new play area will take shape over May and June ready for the summer holidays, the small gauge railway people told us about the possibility of a major event in a couple of years time with lots of small steam engines coming to the park; the cafe will reopen for Easter; there's a chance that a bid for funding for a better interpretation and commemoration of the railway heritage of the park will be successful; there's the sculpture/artwork for the Tees Heritage Park gateway feature; and who knows - we might finally get the skate facility we've been waiting and working for since about 5 years ago. 
Sadly, some of the staff who've been part of all the planning and hoping and dreaming over the last few years won't be with Stockton Council to see it come to fruition.  As a result of the cuts we're having to make in the council's staffing budget we'll lose not just some very experienced office staff but people who go out and about in the parks and the countryside making sure that fences are mended and paths are passable along with numerous other tasks to keep the area accessible and pleasant.  They'll be missed.  Just an example of the sort of work they do was mentioned today - a guided walk wasn't accessible to an electric scooter for a disabled person so the ranger led another walk the following week which was accessible.  Fine until they came to a narrow "pinch gate" designed years ago to stop motor cyclists on a footpath.  It was a very tight squeeze for the scooter and times have changed - now there's a brand new cycle path which won't have such a gate on it.  Brief discussion this morning led to permission to remove the obstacle.  Next time a disabled person wants to do that walk it'll be much easier, as well as for people with prams and manual wheelchairs.  Win all round, except that the ranger concerned might lose their job in the next stage of the staff cuts.  That's the sad reality of Mr Pickles' decision that Local Government can manage with so much less money.