The group, Friends of the Moor, is in its 12th year having been formed in April 2005. In partnership with the local authority Cheshire East Council / ANSA this will be the ninth application for a Green flag award. This longevity highlights the success in meeting our aim to promote the use of the Moor and work in partnership to maintain the Moor to the delight of local residents and visitors to Knutsford.
In 2016 we held our well established events with some changes. The community litter picking events in March and October had a new spin. We supported the Tidy Britain Clean for the Queen campaign and benefited from new litter picking equipment granted by Cheshire East Council community partnerships team. In October we extended our area of cleansing by gaining permission to access the adjacent Moor Pool and were joined by local specialist Fire & Rescue services. At our Annual Playday event we were delighted to receive additional volunteer helpers from the Knutsford Hosts. New events were added to the calendar. After the Town’s traditional Royal Mayday parade an informal reunion gathering was organised via Facebook community group, Remembering Knutsford. In September, Canute’s Crossing, a community event organised by the Knutsford Promenades as part of their Heritage Open Days weekend, brought a new audience.
Capital investment provided extra picnic tables and enabled the phase two playarea plans. The poppy round tables were requested by young people and the more accessible step through bench with overhang, by adults. The playarea, saw improvements to the surfacing and signage and a variety of new equipment. (large wooden playhouse, swings, roundabout, play panels.)
Maintenance of the Moor has been better coordinated by the Friends and ANSA Ground Team leader regularly exchanging ‘park audit’ information. This has seen an improvement in leaf collection, grass seeding, shrub cutting and fencing post replacement along the promenade path. Replacement bins are on order too.
The aim for 2017 is to tackle the spots of poor drainage in the short term and work on a new management plan that sets the ambition for the next 10 years. This will require renewed engagement with the wider public users of the park ensuring that all ages are given a voice. To that end we will seek to improve our communications via our website & Facebook and by continuing our noticeboard & Twitter postings. We will continue with our successful local paper and Knutsford Town Council Environment Committee reports. We also wish to support the Scouts with their building plans for a replacement HQ that offers access to community organisations such as ourselves.
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