Scarborough Community Group Campaigns to Restore Park and Pond

A new Community Group in Scarborough is actively working to restore the Quarry Mount Park and its natural pond to its former glory and will be holding a community picnic on Wednesday.

The park is described as unique, having once featured natural springs at its summit that fed a cliff-face runoff, serving as a natural water source.

Cheryl Mann, Treasurer of the Quarry Mount Community Group, says the decline of the park began approximately eight to nine months ago when the council erected a fence around the area.

"We have a unique Quarry Mount Park that used to have newts, 'cause we've got two natural springs at the top that used to run off the cliff face, so it was a natural water source.

But the Council had put a fence up and once the fence went up, I knew it would kind of get be left, so I contacted our local councillor and said, , it needs to be preserved for future generations.

My children grew up here, we called it the frog pond 'cause there would used to be a lot and lot of frogs and now there's hardly any wildlife up there.

The Fence went up about nine months ago. There was nothing said about why the fence had been put up, which is why I pulled the local councillor. She basically said there was just no money to, to maintain that bit of park anymore. 

Concerned about the park's preservation for future generations, Cheryl was advised by the councillor to establish a community group, which led to the formation of the Quarry Mount Community Group.

The group's primary mission is to involve more local people and "reform it into its natural glory of what it was".

"We're just trying to get more people from the local area involved.

Our first big mission will be to do the park to what it was before, to reform it into its natural glory of what it was. 

We did have a walkway round, which is all rotten, so that all needs to be coming out and we need to look at a new walkway.

We used to have the children from Springhead School come up and the children at Hinderwell School to look at the wildlife in the pond, but now they're not able to do that. So it's not just for the community, it's for the schools as well in the area. 

A lot of people, they live in terrace houses and they don't they don't have gardens. So that green space is a really important area for them. "

In their efforts to revive community spirit and the park, the group has already held several successful initiatives. 

"We have been holding litter picks, which we didn't need to end up holding anymore because there was just no more litter to pick up.

Last month we had a bug hunt, not a lot of people knew each other. By the end of it, everyone was helping everyone else. It was just really nice to see the community spirit coming back. 

On Wednesday we've got picnic in the park. So it's a bring a dish so everybody shares, gonna have outdoor games. Me and another member of the committee have been working very hard on a special surprise that will be unveiled on Wednesday. 

The event's open to anybody in the Scarborough area. Even further afield if you are interested in saving green spaces community interest, even just meeting new people. We want to unite the whole of Scarborough "

The Community Picnic is scheduled to begin at 3:00 PM on Wednesday 6th August at Quarry Mount Park, located at the top of Asquith Avenue. There is no set finish time, with participants encouraged to stay as long as they wish. While primarily aimed at local people, the event is open to anyone in the Scarborough area.

Looking ahead, the group is actively seeking more funding to support the significant work required for the park's restoration. They have already secured initial funding from local councillor Liz Collings, which has provided them with the necessary insurance to hold events in the park.

Cheryl says they need to form a community group to bring in more funds for the restoration project.

"We have received funding from local councillor Liz Collings, So she's set us up. So we have our own insurance, means we can hold these events in the park.

Our next step forward is looking at more funding because it's gonna take a lot of work and a lot of funds to restore it to what it was. 

It will be down to us because we can apply for more funding as a community group than what the council can, we have been working with local stores in the area. We have been given donations of paint from the community Furniture Shop store in Scarborough. 

So it's down to us a as a community group to try and get them funding to our local park and get them spent on something that can be used by a lot of people. "

The Quarry Mount Community Group is modelling their approach on successful "friends groups" seen elsewhere, such as the one at Southcliff Park, which Ms. Mann acknowledged has done a "phenomenal job". Although their project is on a "very very very small scale" compared to South Cliff, the aspiration is to return Quarry Mount Park to its "former glory".