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FRIENDS OF CWMDONKIN PARK CONSTITUTION

Name 

  1. The Group shall be called ‘Friends of Cwmdonkin Park’ (hereafter referred to as FOCP).

Affiliation 

  1.  At present there is no recognised national or regional governing body for park regeneration. Therefore, FOCP will be unable to affiliate to such a body. The aspiration of the group will be to be part of such a governing body when practical. 

Aims and Objectives 

The objectives of FOCP are to actively aid the regeneration of Cwmdonkin Park (hereafter referred to as “the park”) and its facilities and specifically:  

3.1 To make the park the best it can be for the community and encourage community engagement with the park. 

3.2 To support the authority (as defined in section 11.1) with time, effort and money to help maintain the park and make it as beautiful and bio-diversified as possible. 

3.3 To help in education about the park, its history, flora and fauna. 

3.4 To provide community events in the park.   

3.5 To provide, restore, retain and enhance equipment for the park for recreation and health improvement.   

3.6 To promote cleanliness of the park 

3.7 To interact with other groups, e.g. gardening clubs, sports clubs, and schools. 

3.8 To promote links between Dylan Thomas and the park. 

3.9 To liaise with other groups regarding development of Parks and Gardens in the City & County of Swansea and to work in partnerships with groups that include: 

  • City & County of Swansea Community Development & Parks Operations Sections. 
  • Comprehensive Schools. 
  • Primary and Junior Schools.  
  • Police Officers and Police Community Support Officers. 
  • Youth Services. 
  • Gardening groups. 
  • Residents of Cwmdonkin and surrounding areas, and other related groups. 
  • Any other group deemed appropriate. 

 3.10 To provide members of FOCP with: 

  • Regular planning meetings 
  • Regular feedback on minutes of meetings and decisions made  
  • Nomination rights and Voting rights 

Membership 

  1. FOCP shall consist of Honorary Officers (The Executive Committee – “The EC”) and Members 
  1. Membership of FOCP shall be open to and not unreasonably restricted to anyone who is prepared to accept and support the objectives of the group and pay any agreed membership subscription 
  1. In accepting membership a person agrees to abide by the constitution of FOCP and the rulings of The EC. 
  1. Members under the age of 18 will be considered Junior Members.  
  1.      Members under the age of 18 will not be eligible for any office of The EC that has a  

           legal status. 

Membership Fees 

5.0      Membership fees shall be stipulated by The EC after consultation with the FOCP members at the Annual General Meeting or at a specially arranged General Meeting as an annual payment. 

5.1     The EC may decide upon other charges or subscription after consultation with the members. 

Officers 

  1. At the FOCP Annual General Meeting, the members shall as the first order of the day elect a Chair. The Chair will then take the meeting and the following officers shall be elected to The EC: 

A Secretary, and a Treasurer, any other office the members deem necessary. These shall be the Honorary Officers.  Honorary Officers must be members of FOCP but may not be elected local councillors. 

  1. The Honorary Officers shall hold office for a calendar year, being elected annually at
    FOCP Annual General Meeting (AGM). All Honorary Officers shall retire Annually but still be eligible for re-appointment subject to provision 9.5. 

 Executive Committee 

  1. The Executive Committee shall consist of no fewer than three (3) members and no more than twelve (12) members. 
  2. The Quorum for general meetings shall be six (6) members including at least three (3) of the Executive Committee; or 10% of the Membership, whichever is greater. 
  1. The Executive Committee may fill any casual vacancy occurring, after consultation with
    members attending a general meeting. 

Finance 

  1. All monies raised by or on behalf of FOCP, including Local Authority funding and sponsorship, shall be used to further the objectives of FOCP and for no other purpose. 
  1. The Executive Committee shall be legally responsible for the proper use of monies raised
    as set out in section 8.0.  The Treasurer is responsible for the proper recording of
    FOCP finances. 
  1. Proper accounts shall be kept of all sums of money received and paid out by the FOCP. 
  1. An independently examined statement of accounts, up to and including this date, shall be presented at the AGM. 
  1. The funds of FOCP shall be lodged at a bank or building society in an account in the name of FOCP, and all cheques, drafts etc. drawn on these accounts shall be signed by any two of the Honorary Officers. 
  1. In the event of the resignation of one or more of the signatories, immediate action must be taken to remove their name from the bank or building society’s records. 

Annual General Meeting and other Meetings 

  1. An AGM will be held in July to September of each calendar year.
     
  2. The Constitution must be agreed at the AGM after election of officers. If
    amendments are proposed, the motion shall require a two-thirds majority vote. 
  1. An annual report and an independently examined statement of accounts, up to the end of the financial year, shall be presented at the AGM. 
  1. The Secretary shall give not less than twenty (20) working days’ notice of the date of the AGM to all members. 
  1. The AGM shall elect Honorary Officers in accordance with clause 6.0 
  1. The Secretary shall receive nominations for Honorary Officers not less than 7 days prior to the AGM. Nominations shall be accepted from the floor of the meeting. Nominations can only
    be accepted from persons eligible to vote at the AGM. 
  1. The dates of other general meetings and Executive Committee meetings shall be
    determined at the previous meeting. In addition, the Executive Committee may call a
    meeting when considered necessary, or upon the written request of at least two (2) members
    of FOCP subject to giving five (5) working days’ notice to members. 
  1. All members shall be entitled to vote at general meetings of FOCP and shall have equal voting rights. 
  1. The quorum for the AGM shall be six members including at least three (3) Honorary Officers. 
  1. An extraordinary general meeting (EGM) shall be called by an applicant in writing to the
    secretary signed by no fewer than 10% of the members, allowing five (5) working days’ notice to members. 

Voting Procedures 

  1. Each member shall be entitled to one (1) vote. 
  1. A motion shall be carried by a simple majority of those present and voting, except when
    the motion is a constitutional amendment, which shall require a two-thirds majority. 
  1. The chair shall have a casting vote in addition to a deliberative vote. 

Property and Staff 

  1. The park is owned by the City and County of Swansea (“the authority”). However, if FOCP decides to purchase fixed equipment to be put into the park, the nature and ownership of such equipment must be agreed with the authority in advance. FOCP shall only purchase any fixed equipment after receiving confirmation from the authority whether it will underwrite the ongoing maintenance of such equipment. 
  2. Any items which are purchased by FOCP and not fixed will remain in the ownership of FOCP. 

Discipline and Appeals 

12.0   The Executive Committee shall have the power to take appropriate disciplinary action              against any member and shall have the authority to terminate the membership of any member guilty of conduct deemed to be to the detriment of FOCP. 

12.1    There shall be the right to appeal to the Executive Committee or an appeal committee set up  

by it to act on its behalf, against any such disciplinary action. If the matter cannot be             resolved an independent arbitrator can be appointed. 

Dissolution Procedures 

  1. In the event of FOCP ceasing to exist, and following the discharge of all debts and liabilities, any assets at the time of dissolution shall be gifted in trust to the City and County of Swansea or any bodies as the Executive Committee sees fit that will best serve the community for which the assets were purchased. No member shall obtain any asset of FOCP. 

Signed………………………………………… (Chair and Treasurer) 

 H W Austin 

Signed………………………………………….(Vice-chair) 

A P Dobson 

Signed………………………………………….(Secretary) 

M O’ Carroll 

Date…………………………………………… 

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Friends of Cwmdonkin Park – Chair’s Report July 2021

Friends of Cwmdonkin Park – Chair’s Report July 2021

Another year has passed, and I would start by reiterating the introduction to my report as acting chair in the 2020 AGM.   That introduction said “What a strange year it has been!” and  “We can only hope that we will be able to execute more definite plans over the next 12 months”.   Unfortunately, the pandemic has continued to disrupt businesses and organisations of all sorts – Friends of Cwmdonkin Park have continued to put activities and events on hold until it is safe to resume them.  We have been unable to run any of our usual community events since the 2020 AGM.  In particular, there have been no Family Fun Days;   no Halloween event; no mulled wine and mince pies with the Salvation Army at Christmas; no Easter Egg Hunt in 2021.

We have been able to keep in touch with each other and hold regular committee meetings through the magic of Google Meet (thanks to our secretary, Mike O’Carroll, for your efforts on that, and for your ability to keep us all organised!).   We have also stayed in touch through the use of our What’s App group, which has enabled us to share details of our new orchard, sightings of fauna and flora in the park, and good news (such as news about the coffee shop and the bird and bat boxes) and bad news (instances of vandalism or anti-social behaviour). And we have also stayed in touch right throughout lockdown by (socially distanced) chance meetings in the park.  As lockdown has eased, many people have used Cwmdonkin Park as a meeting place – and we managed to have our most recent committee meeting in Cwmdonkin Park last month (June). And now we are able to meet under controlled conditions indoors for the AGM.

Although Friends of Cwmdonkin Park have been unable to hold any of our usual activities, there have been other things going on.  

The pavilion/café reopened as “Dylan’s coffee shop” in April 2021 and the new tenants (Sara and Papi) have very quickly established the coffee shop as a destination in its own right.   More people are using Dylan’s coffee shop as a reason to visit the park.  Sara and Papi (who are themselves members of Friends of Cwmdonkin Park) and their dedicated band of helpers have been working incredibly hard and for long hours – they have recently extended their opening hours to  7 p.m on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays.  They are still only able to operate for take-away (selling a whole range of coffees/teas, as well as soft drinks, ice creams and lollies, and cakes)-  but they plan to open up the indoor seating area as soon as they are able to do so.  They also have some outdoor seating to complement the existing picnic tables.   The only frustration is that we tried to work with them to get Swansea Council to supply recycling bins to be located nearer the coffee shop. Unfortunately, this led nowhere because the council’s view is that people fail to separate rubbish appropriately. 

On the question of rubbish, in the early days of lockdown in 2020, there were problems with antisocial behaviour and littering – especially near the Dylan Thomas shelter.   With the help of Councillor Irene Mann, we were able to persuade the Swansea council to instal a new litter bin near the Dylan Thomas shelter, as well as a surveillance camera on a post in front of the shelter. Despite scepticism from some quarters this has been well used and seems to have encouraged responsible use.   Even when the bin is full, other rubbish is generally placed alongside the bin.

And Friends of Cwmdonkin Park have organised a litter collection rota in order to supplement (not replace) the litter collection by park staff.   On every day of the week, someone does a litter pick and places the litter in the blue bags kindly supplied to us by Irene.   This litter pick has had two beneficial results- both the obvious one of the park looking better and the less obvious one that it causes park users to stop and talk with our team – especially when they see our stylish badges.  But thanks to all who have participated in the litter pick.

Another major positive is the planting of 50 ornamental cherry trees on the bank above the Dylan Thomas shelter, as part of the Sakura Cherry Tree Project. That project aims to plant thousands of cherry trees across UK, including 1000 cherry trees throughout Wales; it marks the friendship between Wales (and the rest of the UK), and Japan. We are honoured to have 50 trees from the project planted in Cwmdonkin Park, and Friends of Cwmdonkin Park was represented at the planting ceremony last autumn.   It was great to see the first blossom in springtime this year.  It should be a spectacular sight in springtime for many years to come.

One slightly sour note was that a handful of the trees were vandalised  (the barks snapped off) – but regrowth of the stumps is still possible.  Let us hope so!

Apart from the odd incident like that, the park itself has been a boon for local residents during lockdown and subsequent restrictions. We are lucky to have such a beautiful open space in our community, for fresh air and exercise, for meeting friends, and for getting just a bit closer to nature. The vast majority of park visitors have used the park responsibly. And it is great to see the park used for informal and informal gatherings – from birthday parties to kickarounds, from WI meetings to karate classes,  from Park Lives events to yoga classes, from brownies to tennis coaching.

Another major positive was the orchard planted by Friends of Cwmdonkin Park with a great deal of help and support from The Orchard Project – many thanks to all who contributed.  Especially our designated Orchard Leaders – Alan Dobson, Rodney Bender and Douglas Alexander.  Special thanks to Rodney for his 3-D model of the orchard and for making and installing QR codes on all the trees, giving a link to information about the trees on our website.  

The orchard is to be formally named “ City of Sanctuary Orchard”.    City of Sanctuary is a national movement committed to building a culture of hospitality and welcome, especially for refugees seeking sanctuary from war and persecution.   We in Cwmdonkin Park are pleased to support those aims –  especially as the park has been something of a sanctuary for many of us over the last difficult year.

Following on from the orchard planting, we had 3 bird boxes, 3 bat boxes and a sparrow terrace generously made and donated by Daffydd Richards – these were a bit late for this year’s nesting (although I have seen a blue tit trying out one of the boxes), but we hope to commission some more for this autumn.   And the bird box/batbox project has led us to meetings to discuss enhancing biodiversity in the park

Thanks to David Harwood continues to maintain our website (which has a functioning “Pay” button that can be used for donations, or for payment of membership subscriptions) and our Facebook site. And special thanks to Alan Dobson in his role as vice-chair; he has been brilliant in standing in when I am not available, in following up on matters which arose when he was chair, and in providing general support and friendship.

There are possible events to look forward to later this year, but we are waiting until it is safe to do so.  Meanwhile thanks to all who have helped or contributed to the activities of Friends over the past year.   

Hedley Austin

Chair – Friends of Cwmdonkin Park     20 July 2021

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Important Announcement – Cwmdonkin Park Easter Egg Hunt cancelled

We have been considering carefully whether to proceed with the proposed Easter Egg Hunt scheduled for Good Friday (10 April) – taking account of the Government’s  advice concerning Corona virus (Covid 19).  That advice is to avoid unnecessary contact with  other people and, specifically,  to steer clear of  large gatherings.   Bearing in mind that the Easter Egg Hunt has attracted hundreds of children (and their parents/carers) in previous years,  we have concluded that it would be irresponsible to proceed.  The event is therefore CANCELLED for the current year.

We apologise to everyone who was looking forward to the event, but the cancellation decision is unfortunately inevitable in order to protect visitors to the park. Other Friends of Cwmdonkin Park  events,  which are currently in the planning stage, will be reviewed over the next few weeks.

Hedley Austin

Acting Chair

Friends of Cwmdonkin Park

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Easter Egg Hunt

It’s been a while since we have posted, but we are very pleased and excited to be able to advise everyone of our Easter egg Hunt on Sunday, April 14th.

The event is free for everyone but the hunt is aimed for children up to 11. Please arrive at the kiosk anytime from between 2pm and 4pm to sign up.

We look forward to seeing you there.

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Christmas in the Park

We will be holding our annual Christmas in the Park event, on Friday 14th December, between 5.15pm and 7.00pm.

The event is free and organised by Friends of the Park for the local community. We would welcome anyone who is interested in joining the ‘Friends’ committee, to enquire using this link, via the web site.

The Programme is as follows:

5.15-5.30pm Formal welcome, mince pies and mulled wine

5.30-5.40pm Reading

5.40-6.00pm Salvation Army Band

6.00-6.10pm Reading

6.10-6.30pm 4D Choir

6.30-6.40pm Reading

6.40-7.00pm Salvation Army Band

Lighting will be provided at the Grove and Penlan Crescent entrances.

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Unveiling of Dylan Thomas Memorial Stone

The Friends of Cwmdonkin Park are delighted that the initiative they took to renovate the stone has now happened and can be duly celebrated. We invite all who can to attend the ceremony.

Please see below for details of the event.

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Cwmdonkin Park Virtual Tour

We are really pleased to be able to provide a link for a Virtual tour of the park.

http://www.vrvistas.com/virtualtours/parks/cwmdonkin/#

This was created by VR Vistas (vrvistas.com), who specialize in innovative, highly interactive and immersive virtual tours to support online marketing strategies. It also produces high quality aerial video and photography backed up by CAA Permission and RPQ-s Qualification. The company includes a Google Trusted Photographer and offers Google Maps Business View.