News

A gentle reminder that our AGM is tomorrow evening, Wed 15th , 7:30pm at St Lukes Church, Langley Way in the Meeting Room on the first floor.  We look forward to seeing you there.

And a quick prior update on matters happening in the Park:

1. Car Parking
   1. The payment system is now in place in the main Car Park, you pay by Cash, Contactless or by Phone giving a Debit/Credit Card.
   2. First 2 hours are free but you must obtain and display a ticket. Three hours are £2 , then an additional £1 per hour.
   3. Tickets will are currently available from 9:45am but should shortly be available from 8am.
2. Rustic Bridge
   1. Work continues with the new designed side-panels having general approval.
   2. The bridge will be closed for a day when tarmac is laid; signage will clearly indicate when.
   3. Access restrictions have meant several other projects have been delayed until work is complete, these include the Willow Spilling and the second phase of new bins on the canal side path.
3. Signage
   1. Work continues on developing Interpretative signage for the park and the woodland areas, including basics such as nearest toilet!
4. Cycling
   1. While work continues on developing a comprehensive policy, new temporary signs and Park Ranger activity will be targeted at speed reduction and reinforcing that pedestrians have absolute priority.
5. Watercress Beds
   1. We are chasing the Environment Agency who need to approve the plan for the next stage of the development to reinstate this important area of habitat for the Park.
6. Park Management Plan
   1. The new plan will soon be available on our website.
7. Forthcoming Events
   1. AGM Tomorrow St. Lukes  at7.30pm
   2. Big Screen for the Cup Final starts at 4pm on Saturday.
   3. HMWT will have a pop up Visitor Centre near the Nature Reserve on May 29^th(Our Speaker at the AGM will have more details)

Best regards,

Steve Jakeman

Council Liaison

Friends of Cassiobury Park

Please note that because of improvement works going on in the park:

• The pools will not be open this summer.  However, the playground, refreshment booth and (temporary) toilets are still available.
• The Cha cafe area is currently closed and undergoing refurbishment but should be finished and open again fairly soon.
• Car parking is limited.  Please use the eastern (Hempstead Rd) side of the park as much as possible , especially at weekends and in July and August when parking restrictions are lifted.

Our annual meeting will be held at 7:30pm in St Luke’s Church Hall, Langley Way, WD17 3EG on Wednesday 18th May.   

The evening will include a progress update on the HLF project from Watford Borough Council and a briefing on the nature reserve from the Herts and Middlesex Wildlife Trust.

‘The Butterflies of Hertfordshire’ is the presentation after a coffee and tea break. The speaker will be Liz Goodyear whose roles at the Herts and Middlesex Branch of the Butterfly Conservation include field trip organiser.   So Liz is well qualified to give us some great insights into how the butterfly population of Hertfordshire is changing, what we can do to help and where to go to see the less common species.

All members are welcome….as are non-members who wish to join as a Friend of the Park at the meeting.

Following the past 5 years of initial studies, design development, consultation, 2x applications to the HLF, detailed designs, planning applications & then a minor re-design, your patience and support will be rewarded in 2016 when we see work start on the restoration of Cassiobury Park.

In December, Borras construction was appointed to carry out all works in the park. They are based in St Albans and have worked on numerous Parks projects (including HLF funded) with experience of landscaping work, new buildings and restoration of heritage buildings.

• The contract start date is proposed for mid-February, this means that the contactors will be in the park setting up their works compound (based adjacent to the car-park) & access routes in the 2 weeks prior from early February.
• The Hub building and pools area work will start first with a 55-week programme and completion in March/April 2017.
• A resident’s newsletter will be delivered shortly to all roads adjacent to the park informing of work dates/information/what to expect/contact details etc.
• There will be a ‘construction blog’ on the WBC website.
• The Cha café will remain open until at least the beginning of March.

You may have recently noticed some curious goings on near the paddling pools.  This has been the SW Herts Archaeological Society surveying and excavating an area of the park that will soon be buried beneath the new HLF hub building.

Volunteers, including some of our FoCP members have been helping to determine what lies under the grass in this area.  Initial geo survey work had confirmed that there is building material in this area and had highlighted the specific areas where excavation would be helpful.

There was no evidence of buildings in this location on a 1945 aerial shot of the park and so far the digging itself has revealed possible traces of earlier usage – along the course of an 18th century drive as well as some building posts and some pottery fragments of medieval or Roman origin.  So far no large building of significant importance has been revealed and if this continues to the case then the site will be carefully monitored as the contractors for the new building start work.

If you want to participate in the work of the Archaelogical Society’s  in our area then please contact the Chairman, Laurie Elvin at  magictrowel@o2.co.uk or 07784 807108

Peter Jenkins   1 Nov 15

Yes, we have a big parrot in the park!!  Out on an HMWT work party this Tuesday, someone asked if we knew about the ‘large parrot’ in the park.  A few minutes later  a huge Blue and Gold Macaw landed on the door of the HMWT truck ! Clearly quite tame and looking for food.

A little later I got some shots of it and spoke briefly to the owner who is exercising his pet most days in the park. He also has two other species of parrot – so keep a good look out.

Peter Jenkins 16 Oct 15

Because of procurement issues and escalation in the cost of the project, the start has been delayed until the new-year and alterations are being made to downscale the plans…primarily to refurbish the Cha Café but not to enlarge it.  We have been assured that the changes will not affect the quality or facilities in the hub building and paddling pools and that they will still be open for business by the summer of 2017.

We were surprised to learn that the £60,000 that we understood had been allocated to the nature reserve in the park was not actually HLF project funded.  WBC has apparently ‘signed up’ to providing this sum over the years of the project.  However, Matt told us that WBC would need to raise these funds!   This is a concern as HMWT works on the reserve, such as improvements to water management, hide refurbishment and clearing the water cress beds have already been delayed for a number of years waiting for HLF funding.  We hope to meet with WBC and HMWT in October to make some progress to overcome this disappointing discovery, which appears to reinforce the view that the WBC HLF project needs to take more than a token interest in this very special area of the park.

Peter Jenkins 29 Sep 15