With the replacement of the damaged Hyndland Street gate now completed, a number of residents have made enquiries about replacement of the other two garden gates, as well as returning the garden to a single mode of access that does not require two different keys.
This is just to reassure all residents that options continue to be explored for gates and locks alongside a planned general review of access and security for the gardens.
While replacement of the Hyndland Street gate was an urgent priority due it’s state of damage and impact on easy access at that end, these other access issues and opportunities require a little more time to consider all of the options and then present these to you as part of due consultation on next steps.
The CPGA Committee is looking for a volunteer to become our 6th member.
Normally the committee is elected at the AGM but a space has become free to support the work we are doing for a few months.
We are a friendly and welcoming group who meet monthly for a couple of hours to talk through the ongoing and upcoming work.
Throughout the month we communicate with residents and liaise with gardeners, contractors etc.
There’s a broad range of skills and experience in our group – some members have professional experience as committee members, others have none at all.
Everyone brings unique skills to our group and we would love to invite anyone who is interested to get in touch – all perspectives, experiences and backgrounds are welcome.
As this is only a commitment for a few months it might be a great way to decide if a longer term role on a future CPGA Committee is for you.
Please get in touch via email hello@crown.garden – for ease it’s just first come, first served.
The next Committee meeting takes place on Tuesday 19th July.
UPDATE: we have now had a volunteer for committee duties. We will post more about that in a blog update soon. BUT we are ALWAYS happy to hear from volunteers to help out with garden projects and events. The next one is to help out with the Summer BBQ on 20 August. So if that appeals do get in touch at hello@crown.garden
It’s with great sadness that we have to report that vandals have struck at our gardens in the past week. They appear to have entered the gardens by climbing over the gate at Crown Road South (causing damage in the process) and from there vandalised our picnic tables and BBQ area.
Investigations have been underway on options to repair and replace.
Damaged BBQ
We have lost two of the four slate beds as a result. We are exploring tradesmen availability and will be updating you all again soon when we have a confirmed fix scheduled.
2 slate beds smashed and on the ground
Damaged Tables
Our picnic tables are in a particularly poor state of repair. These are very old benches now and nothing lasts forever. Many of them had already been skipped by The Rock, and reclaimed for our gardens over ten years ago, so they have actually lasted well under the circumstances.
Things haven’t been helped by the pandemic lockdowns and lack of access to tradesmen and garden supplies, and so the tables did not benefit from their annual protective treatments during that time.
Vandalism just sealed the deal. We had hoped to reboot the annual repair and re-treatment of the tables in June and had even called for volunteers to help. That will now be cancelled.
wood splintered and gouged
We are now looking at wood recycling options to help them on their way as something hopefully new and useful.
New tables
So it’s time to replace. New tables have now been ordered and we hope to have these in the gardens in June, date to be confirmed.
new 6-seater tables with easy access and sociable layoutnew children’s tables with lower table and seat heights and inbuilt storage
More accessibile
This does however provide an opportunity to choose models more suitable for our gardens. The new tables have the same capacity of 6 people, but offer “walk in” access, more suitable for any residents with mobility issues than the current “step over” access.
design allows easier “walk in” access from the sides of the seats, instead of the usual “step over” access of our current A-frame tables
More sociable
Another benefit of the new models is their circular arrangement of seating around a round table top, and so more sociable than the current models.
round table tops and a circular layout of seats around it create a more sociable space
More inclusive
There are many residents with young families and this also presents an opportunity to provide tables specially designed for children, with lower table and seat heights.
More storage
We also received an offer last year from one of our residents to help us set up some fun and educational activities for children, encouraging an appreciation from an early age of the wonderful nature all around us. We are working through those ideas and should have something more to share soon.
When these do come along we will need a place to store some laminates and simple gadgets like bug viewers, etc. So we’re delighted to find that the children’s garden table model is also designed with a novel removable table top to store things underneath.
table tops can be removed to access the storage space underneath
Delivery date
We will let you know when we have a firm date from the supplier for delivery.
UPDATE: we have now had a confirmation from the supplier that the new tables will be delivered and assembled on Tuesday, 28 June.
This last weekend’s weather wasn’t so great, but anyone who did make it into the gardens may have spotted that the promised noticeboard has now been installed.
And today it is finally all dressed up with the garden notices we hope will keep you most updated and informed about garden matters.
Location
It’s located at the Hyndland Street end of the garden, tucked just behind the first tree on the right as you go through the gate.
new noticeboard location
This location was chosen as it is close to two of our three gates, and so gets the most footfall. By tucking it just behind that first tree it will not change the view from the heart of the gardens but remains easily accessible.
Information and consultation
With the installation of this noticeboard we have now completed phase one of our plans to better keep in touch among the association and its committee members.
We now have a new focal website here at crown.garden, a central mailbox at hello@crown.garden, a range of social media accounts, a print newsletter, and finally now a good old fashioned noticeboard in our gardens.
Taken together, we hope that these will ensure that everyone feels consulted and informed on garden matters.
Check all the garden notices from anywhere
No time to pop into the gardens? Weather turned a bit dire? No worries… keep up to date on all of the important garden news and info on our virtual noticeboad.
All changes on the garden noticeboard will be synced on our virtual noticeboard online at crown.garden/noticeboard
Aside: optical illusion!
When you do get a chance to check out the physical noticeboard in the gardens, a word to the wise…
You may think it’s leaning to the left. You may even want to cock your head that way.
This is just to confirm that it’s actually totally level. It’s just everything else that isn’t!
So rest assured it is securely bolted in an upright position and enjoy this new optical illusion.
So a new spring is here and a new summer just around the corner. It’s always so exciting to embrace another long hot summer in our gardens (as long and as hot as Scotland will allow!)
And with that “new” comes our newsletter! So much has happened over the autumn and winter. A new committee brings new ideas, building on the good works of the hard-working volunteers gone by.
The committee have now hand delivered the printed Spring/ Summer 22 newsletters to all households. We hope that you find it useful, and easy to keep handy so that you can easily access some of the new channels of communication.
If you need a digital copy just pop over to the newsletter page to view or download.
The first newsletter truly covers all of the bases. Garden maintenance and development at its core of course. And also a considerable effort around improving safety, security and access to the gardens. These, as always, the most important aspects of our garden upkeep.
All major AGM 21/22 actions are also being progressed, including the south perimeter fence, guidance for dogs in the gardens and improving resident communication and consultation.
The committee has also looked deeply into the governance, assurance and management of the association, and an action plan agreed to ensure that we are fully compliant with the Title Deeds that we all are obligated to follow. Thankfully nothing too onerous, just important to ensure that it is transparently in place.
Association engagement is a key priority beyond upkeep, safety and security of our gardens, and so we are launching many new channels of communication among Association members.
We now have a new focal website here at crown.garden
We also now have social media channels on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, to bring the garden news to where you are.
And soon also we will have a solidly dependable notice board in the heart of our gardens.
Taken together, the hope is that everyone will feel able to easily keep up-to-date with garden news, feel consulted on major changes, and have a place to chat to committee members on things that mean the most to them for their gardens.
And of course we hope that many residents will be able to join together in the gardens on 20th August to enjoy our annual summer BBQ.
Crown Pleasure Gardens 