Category Archives: Local Amenities

Weald and Downland Living Museum – “55 for the 55th” Project

Education, Local Amenities

The Weald and Downland Living Museum is launching an anniversary campaign to raise £55,000 to make the Museum more ‘Accessible to Everyone’ for the next 55 years and beyond.

This year marks the 55th anniversary of the Weald & Downland Living Museum. To celebrate, we are launching our “55 for 55” campaign – aiming to raise £55,000 to make the Museum more ‘Accessible to Everyone’.

History and heritage should be open to all. Yet today some visitors face challenges accessing our beautiful site and historic buildings. With your support, we can preserve the past and open the future to all. Your donation will help us to:

  • Create new accessible paths so wheelchair users, those with mobility needs, and families with pushchairs can move freely around the Museum.
  • Deliver new, inclusive play areas designed for children of all ages and abilities, giving families welcoming spaces to rest, play, and connect.
  • Install updated signage and interpretation boards designed with inclusive, easy-to-read formats, supporting visitors with reading accessibility needs.
  • Deliver site-wide accessibility improvements that enhance navigation, inclusivity, and the visitor experience – opening the Museum to new communities.

Together, we can make sure the Weald and Downland remains a place for everyone, for the next 55 years and beyond.

The link to the Crowdfund is here: https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/qr/qle5gzXl?utm_campaign=sharemodal&utm_medium=referral&utm_source=shortlink

Post Views: 198

Priory Park: loved and cherished, yet vulnerable

Local Amenities
Priory Park - Cricket
Cricket – played on Priory Park since 1871

The Reverand Bruce Ruddock, Chairman of Priory Park Society, reflects on the care and use of a treasured community asset in the June 2023 Newsletter.

He points out a glaring need to restore or rebuild some of the park’s dilapidated buildings:

Restoration
• Red brick pavilion – Chichester District Council (CDC) has spent tens of thousands of pounds reviewing its future, but rats remain its only visitors.
• Cricket pavilion – as long ago as 1977 plans were submitted for a new
pavilion: the existing ‘White Pavilion’ is now unsafe and not fit for purpose.
• Bowls pavilion – a refurbished or extended bowls pavilion would enable club members to entertain their opposition guests in ways that are at present impossible.
• The Motte – money spent in recent years has been wasted by failing to provide adequate protection and not allowing the ground repairs time to bed in, so that the ‘open wounds’ in the form of cycle and sliding tracks down its sides are worse than ever.
• Play area – there is a clear recognition that the play area needs enhancement, not just by replacing equipment.

New management?
It has often been suggested that the management of Priory Park should be transferred from CDC to the City Council.  I have not sensed any great appetite for this idea, but
maybe our new district councillors will drive it forward.  Should PrioryPark be managed by a CharitableTrust along the lines of the originalPriory Park Society in 1850?  (Without
of course the exclusivity of thefamous subscribers’ keys).  Whateverthe future, the urgent need is forproper security, joined-up thinking and a cohesive and bigger visionin the corridors of power.  Those of us who use the park value its beauty and tranquillity and love
seeing people enjoying themselves.

The Duke of Richmond gave the park as a memorial to t he fallenin the First World War and as a place of recreation for the people of Chichester.  As such, it deserves our respect and the Priory ParkSociety will continue to support this wonderful space in any way we can.
I encourage readers to come and join us.

See the June 2023 Newsletter for the full article.

Post Views: 765