Following the very successful public meeting at the end of last year, the three RAs who will benefit most from the use of The Brewery (Henty) Field have formed a steering committee to launch a Friends’ group at the request of the City Council. We have one representative only from Westgate however. Please volunteer to help get this project launched if you have some spare time, by contacting us now. The City and County Councils have made it clear that if this resource is not used sufficiently then it will be taken back and perhaps built upon.
Calling all dog walkers
One of our intrepid St Bartholomew’s Close residents has very kindly started cleaning up the rubbish in the field. She collected 7 bags! You can access the Field via the car park at the back of the County Archives office in Orchard St. This is ideal terrain for dog walkers at the moment while we work on our Summer people activities programme for the space, due to launch in April. Use it or lose it.
Steering Committee
A steering committee was set up at the 2015 meeting but due to family difficulties has not been able to meet with the council officers concerned. The Committee must soon agree some Articles of Association to found the Friends of Community Field and talk to the Councils about such items as the site name (plain Community Field has been adopted), signage from Orchard St to guide people in, litter and disposal (rota for picking, CDC for emptying), dog waste and litter bins, an anonymous grit bin for storage of litter pickers etc, a grass cutting schedule, goalposts, Waitrose recycled benches, Parklands-style plastic picnic tables, CCTV and the role of a Community Warden.
Summer 2016 Activities
The steering committee will be considering a more than adequate list of possibilities for Summer activities, such as:
- An official opening in the Spring
- The July Gala
- A wildlife day (birds or insects)
- Collaborating with Central School Friends for after school use
- Junior Football
- A Bierfest
- Offering it as a venue for the Festival of Chichester
- A sports day, possibly as an annual charity fundraiser
- Open air theatre performance
- Outdoor Music
- Folk Festival
- Annual Summer Family Picnic
- Storytelling
- Tai Chi
- A dog (or pet) day
Access is a real problem
The fact that there is only one access and from Orchard Street, risks making it difficult if not impossible for residents of Westgate and Parklands to really benefit from the Field, unless access points can be opened up from Henty Gardens and Hawthorn Close.
Before all that happens, a lot of residents would like first of all to see the field decently equipped with a proper sign to clearly indicate how to get into the field.
This is what greets you currently!
Photo courtesy of Annette Hutcheon.
Equipping the Field
Others with small children or grandchildren would like to see a safe play area, others a family picnic area, yet others a football pitch. There will be no shortage of suggestions.
We will report on progress soon.
