(Public Park) Trust – Registered Charity No. 509842
THE PARK RELIES HEAVILY ON THE SUPPORT GIVEN BY MEMBERS OF THE PUBLIC.
PLEASE COME ALONG AND JOIN US
The Annual General Meeting of the Haverfordwest Racecourse Public Parks Trust will be held in the Haverfordwest Cricket Club on Thursday 14th April at 19.00.
Any users of the Haverfordwest Upper Racecourse are welcome to attend.
The wearing of masks is encouraged.
The pupils working for their volunteering component of the Duke of Edinburgh Award Scheme were back again on 17th March. While some of them continued the work on clearing the sides of the paths the rest got stuck in felling the dead saplings in one of the central copses. Sadly these were all young Ash trees killed by the Hymenoscyphus fraxineus fungus, also know as Ash dieback.
This was much harder work than anticipated but the teams remained cheerful and enthusiastic despite this and the occasional Pembrokeshire downpour.
After lunch, combined with a demonstration of the Trangier stove system (to provide a hot brew) the teams swapped over to finish the day’s work.
Local and a London-based representative of the DofE scheme also visited to watch progress and provide support.
As part of their Duke of Edinburgh Award scheme, some pupils from Portfield School volunteered their time in the pouring rain to start on some path clearing. This involved pushing back the encroaching grass and mud and has already shown just how wide our paths actually are before nature tried to take over.
They will be working for a couple more days later this month so please give them some encouragement if you pass them.
Kevin Wheeler’s fundraising challenge over this half-term
At the end of Saturday’s official Parkrun Kevin completed twenty-five identical runs of 5km every 5 hours over 6 days, a distance of 125km giving him only about 3½ hours between runs to sleep..
His chosen charities, to benefit from his amazing achievement, are the Haverfordwest Racecourse (Public Park) Trust and the Wales Air Ambulance Charity.
We are very grateful to Kevin for such generosity in his time and energy spent in support of two worthy causes.
If you would like to add to his total, please visit these links or use the QR Codes:
https://www.peoplesfundraising.com/donation/Kevins-half-term-running-event
https://www.walesairambulance.com/donatewaa
Kevin Wheeler has set himself a fundraising challenge over the next half-term.
We are incredibly grateful to the Gild of Freemen of Haverfordwest for their generous donation of £250 to the Racecourse Trust at this time when we are totally reliant on support from members and our local community.
The Gild of Freemen of Haverfordwest held their Benefactor’s Service at St Martin’s Church on Sunday, 3rd of October 2021, and met later in St Martin’s Church Hall for the Gild Charitable donations of support which were also presented to the Haverfordwest Museum and the Portfield Recreation Committee.
At its last meeting the Committee of the Trust decided to form two working groups.
One was to address the technical issues we meet and how to use the money that has been given by the Persimmon Homes resulting from the Planning Act’s Section 106.
This money can only be used for development and cannot be used for maintenance purposes. Add this to the fact that the Town Council’s new Grants Policy forbids us to request money for revenue purposes and you will understand why the second working group is given the task of raising funds that will ensure that our high standards are maintained.
Both these committees will soon settle down to the tasks they have been allocated.
Each year I try to make a contribution to the efforts of our fundraisers, Bill Carne, Roy Thomas and Pat Lewis. Last year I walked from Haverfordwest to Little Haven on the occasion of my eightieth birthday. The generosity of our supporters was amazing and over £1,700 was donated to our cause.
My initial thought for this year was to kick start our fundraising efforts by donating £100 but then I was presented with an idea that might give generous people an avenue through which they can give financial support to our efforts.
I have decided to take part in the “Sober October” Campaign This will mean that I will deprive myself of a fair amount of pleasure (because, like many, I enjoy a pint with my friends). Instead of pocketing the money saved, I will sponsor each of the first 30 days to the tune of £3 (the average price of a drink) and the last day I will sponsor for £10. This may seem frivolous and non-productive and perhaps I should be ashamed to say that it will cause me more discomfort than did last year’s walk! However, I am hoping that some people will see enough merit in this way of raising funds by supporting a day with a donation of £3 (or support more than one day). I would like to record the names of those donating and I hope for at least two for each day so that the record would show: –
1st October – Peter Lewis, David Loosmore, Brian Griffiths
2nd October – Peter Lewis Roger Chapman, Helen Lewis.
Before officially beginning this venture £150 has been added to my contribution and you would not believe how this has encouraged us. The recording of the names of donors will also inspire our fundraising committee.
Peter Lewis
HAVERFORDWEST RACECOURSE PUBLIC PARKS TRUST
(Charity No: 509842)
It was so pleasing to witness the very large turn out at our AGM on Tuesday 17th August. Fifty people attended to show their interest in the running of our affairs and all appeared satisfied with the standards achieved during the troubled months of the pandemic. Thanks to all who attended and all those who expressed their support.
The finances of the past two years prompted a number of well delivered questions and those posing them seemed to be satisfied with all matters except for those surrounding the level of financial assistance provided by our Town Council.
The Mayor, Cllr Alan Buckfield, gave an explanation as to why the Council had decided not to grant financial assistance. His remarks appeared to suggest that if I had submitted a request, then it would have been favourably considered.
I may have misunderstood him but many I have spoken to since the meeting have confirmed my understanding. They felt that a further explanation to the one I gave at the meeting might serve to clarify the position for those who attended the meeting as well as give important information for the many that were unable to attend.
On April 23rd 2020 I submitted a Grant request in the prescribed manner.
On August 26th 2020 the Town Clerk replied asking me to resubmit my application. This would be reviewed under the new policy.
On 2nd October 2020 I resubmitted.
On 24th November 2020 the Council requested further information.
On 17th December 2020 the Council requested far more details.
On 27th January 2021 the Council’s Administration Officer emailed with this message:-
‘Further to your application and all the additional information you kindly provided, I regret to inform you that at a recent meeting of Haverfordwest Town Council it was decided that they are unable to offer support in respect of funding towards this project’.
I hasten to add that my submission was made in the knowledge that it met fully the stipulations laid down in the Council’s Policy and Guidance Document heading Who can Apply and in full knowledge of that document’s paragraph:-
‘It will also consider revenue costs if it can be demonstrated that lack of funds has an adverse effect on the town and its residents’.
The Council’s present Policy was decided in April of this year and prevents us, and the Portfield Recreation, from seeking assistance with running costs by dictating that;
‘Grants shall not cover an organisations core running (revenue) costs’.
It would not be proper for us to seek grant aid for capital projects as we will have access to nearly £53,000 of Sec.106 from the Persimmon Homes development. We must recognise the withdrawal of assistance with revenue costs from the land owners (Haverfordwest Town Council) for at least three (3) years.
Therefore, we must recognise that we will be totally reliant on the generosity of local organisations and the ingenuity of our committee and its friends if we are to maintain the high standards we have achieved.
Peter Lewis JP