Category: Uncategorized

You may be wondering what has happened to the Rotunda Pond. Back in January, the pond was fenced up so the Council could drain it, remove all the silt and debris, repair some leaks, make some new planters and access ramps for the frogs and newts, and replant.

To our astonishment, when it was drained we found 14 live eels in the pond, which someone must have placed there. As eels are very voracious feeders, they should never have been put there and so have had a huge impact on the wildlife. This just demonstrates what mindless acts of vandalism can do.

After completing the work by replacing the pond plants with varieties that naturally aerate the water, the pond was refilled and the fences were taken away. Unfortunately, it was found that the weather had been too cold to allow the mortar to set properly so that leaks reappeared, the planters collapsed, and many of the plants were uprooted. It did not help that as soon as the fences were taken down, many people allowed their dogs to jump into the pond and cause further damage.

The pond expert who was overseeing the work, like all of us, was absolutely dismayed and will return to repair the pond properly.

City Parks will be putting up notices asking people to keep their dogs out of the pond to prevent disturbance of the wildlife, but if people continue to do allow their dogs in, legislation may have to be changed to keep dogs out of the Rose Garden and pond area altogether.

Please come along to this presentation to find out more about plans to improve the pavilion in Preston Park velodrome in a way that we hope will benefit our whole community.

The Pavilion is the home of St Peter’s Cricket Club who lease the building from Brighton & Hove City Council.

It is in need of refurbishment and extension simply to meet the needs of the cricket club. However, it is also an opportunity to increase the space within the building to become big enough to serve the community, all year round.

Support has already been secured from various local bodies (local councillors, Sussex Cricket including Disability Cricket, Possibility People, the various local cycling clubs).

Before we submit our plans to Brighton & Hove City Council for planning permission, we want to share them with you first for your feedback and, hopefully, your support.
We hope as many of you as possible will be able to join the session!

Greg, St Peter’s Cricket Club

Date / time: Monday 23rd Nov, 7pm-815pm

Zoom link

Meeting ID: 556 599 4758
Passcode: 447280

Our 2021 calendar contains 12 stunning photos from our 2020 photo competition. You can buy calendars for £5.00 each from either the Chalet Cafe or the Rotunda Cafe.

 

Our Annual General Meeting was held on Saturday 14th November at 11.00 am. This year the AGM was held on Zoom, and all three Preston Park Ward councillors – Siriol Hugh-Jones, Leo Littman and Amy Healey – were in attendance to answer your questions.

You can view a recording of the meeting here and view the minutes here

Just before the new lockdown, we managed to deliver the prizes to the 2020 Photo Competiton winners. Each received a fabulous book from Magazine in Trafalgar Street.

We can now announce the winners of this year’s photo competition. We had a great many fabulous entries this year on the theme of ‘colours’. Hundreds of you participated in the online voting, so thanks for making the competition such a success.

1st prize: Leah Parkes (picture above)
2nd prize: Tadas Kaminskas
3rd prize: Tadas Kaminskas
4th prize: Shane Smith
5th prize: Alison Field

The Preston Park 2011 calendar, featuring 12 of the best photos, is off for printing.

You can see all the shortlisted pictures here.

The committee of the Friends of Preston Park is very disappointed by the high level of anti-social behaviour and vandalism in the Park and the surrounding area in the past few months. There has been an unusually high rate of incidents, ranging from repeated offensive and ugly graffiti on the Chalet Cafe, digging up of part of the cricket pitch and nearby bowling greens, damage to the newly-restored flint walls by the velodrome just days after it was completed, and damage to trees and flower beds, often by vehicles illegally entering the Park.

Litter has been at unacceptably high levels, which as well as being unsightly, also attracts vermin, and much of the rubbish does harm to local wildlife. More and more people are parking illegally and the van dwellers, which have now been served with notices of eviction, are just ignoring them and carrying on inhabiting the Park with many reports of very anti-social behaviour. There have also been complaints too about high levels of noise and music, particularly in the evenings, which neighbours find very annoying and disruptive.

We feel that one of the reasons for all this is that, with continuing cutbacks to budgets, the Council just does not have enough staff to supervise the Park, Sussex Police are no longer able to fund dedicated community police officers, and little enforcement of parking regulations is being carried out. As a result, the minority are openly flouting laws and regulations designed to look after the Park.

We plan to meet with our local councillors and council officers over the coming weeks to discuss how we tackle these issues and what we can do to keep Preston Park safer and more well kept. Meanwhile, we would urge that anyone witnessing anti-social behaviour of any kind to report it by calling Sussex Police on 101, or reporting on the Sussex Police website. The more calls they receive, the more likely they will patrol the Park. Please do your part in stopping this costly and distressing behaviour.

Some of you may have seen the six-page spread about our beautiful Rockery Garden and an interview with our wonderful garden manager Andy in the August edition of the prestigious Royal Horticultural Society magazine. This is a real accolade for Preston Park, and testimony to all the hard work put in by Andy and his team of volunteer gardeners who created and maintain the Rockery Garden. The article has created a lot of interest far and wide, and many people have contacted us for details about visiting Preston Park.