Friends of Pinner Village Gardens
Spring 2021 Newsletter
by Antonia Savvides
As we move forward into Spring, the work of our volunteers through the hard months of winter has resulted in Pinner Village Gardens looking lovely. Spring is an important time for many visitors, not only because warmer months mean it’ll be easier to be out and about, but as we move out of lockdown, the park is providing a place at which households can once again meet in person.
We are also looking towards the easing of lockdown, and are hoping to run some events. We would always love extra help, if you have any spare time and specifically help with watering during this dry period.
Getting Involved in Pinner Village Gardens
In recent months the level and type of volunteering which we have been able to organise in the park, has been restricted due to lockdowns. As the Government moves England through it’s roadmap to re-opening, we have been able to resume working parties. We continue to follow the volunteering procedures as set out by Harrow Parks.
However, we would like to stress that while these are a time that we can do organised group volunteering, this may not be suitable for everyone. If you’d like to volunteer in the park, but don’t feel comfortable working in groups then please do still get in touch as there are other opportunities which we can make available for you.
Pinner Village Gardens relies almost entirely on volunteers, and the work they do is enjoyed by all visitors. We routinely receive comments from visitors, praising the look and feel of the park, and on behalf of the Committee, I would like to once again thank the work of everyone who has volunteered for FoPVG.
FoPVG Annual General Meeting 2020/21
by Brian Chapman
During 2020, we postponed our 2020 AGM until such time that we could arrange to meet in person. Of course, in hindsight this was not possible during 2020, and various organisations (including ours!) have had to learn to use technology to replace in-person meetings.
As such, we are now planning to conduct a combined 2020/2021 AGM at 7:30pm on Monday 14th June. This will be online to enable as many people as possible to attend, and for ease of attendance, we may look at keeping this as an option going forward, depending on feedback from this year’s event.
For those unfamiliar with an AGM, it is a meeting open to all, which discusses the plans for the forthcoming year, as well as reporting on the year to date. As we didn’t have one during 2020, the reports will outline the previous two years. It is also where the Committee of FoPVG are voted in, and we have a couple of expected vacancies, and all the current members will be up for re-election.Papers for the AGM will be sent out to all FoPVG Members at least four weeks ahead of the AGM, along with details of how to attend online. If you are not currently a member, and would like to join in advance of the AGM, then please see the “Become a Member” section.
Making Trees a Priority in the May Election
The Woodland Trust has launched a campaign to underline to the city Mayor candidates across England, the importance of planting and retaining native trees in their cities. To this end, they have set up a campaign website which enables constituents to easily email the mayoral candidates for their cities and stress the need for ongoing support for native trees. The website can be seen here: https://www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/protecting-trees-and-woods/campaign-with-us/metro-mayor-elections/
Compton Rise Improvements
One of the significant changes in the park, made recently, has been the installation of a large raised bed at the Compton Rise area of the park. We have the combined work of committee member Jonathan Freedman, as well as Ray Langford and Girdha Sodha among others to thank for the installation of the framework, which is made of reclaimed railway sleepers.
This improvement was identified by Natalia Kuznetsova, who suggested it after we re-discovered the concrete foundation just underground which we believe is the remains of a concrete shelter. This foundation would have been prohibitively expensive to remove, and would have meant that anything planted on the site would have suffered from stunted growth, since there wouldn’t have been sufficient room for their roots to grow.
The raised bed itself was funded from contributions by several organisations, but with a lot of the fundraising thanks to Girdha and Jonathan. We will continue to update you on the work at Compton Rise raised bed in coming issues of our newsletter, as the planting takes place and the new plants bed in properly.
FoPVG 2022 Calendar
We are in the second stage of our competition to put together a calendar celebrating Pinner Village Gardens and the work of the Friends. We put out a call in March for submissions of potential photos for the calendar from both our Members and our Facebook followers, and you answered, with over a hundred photos submitted.
This has been broken down into a shortlist of five for each season, with the top three to be selected for the calendar itself. The calendar will be previewed in the next edition of this newsletter, and will go on sale later this year.
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Friends of Pinner Village Gardens