The Friends of Rowntree Park’s volunteers love and care for the park
Friends of Rowntree Park is a community charity made up of people who care about Rowntree Park and want to help make it the best it can be for the local and wider community.
Put simply, we help care for and improve the park, raise funds and run a wide range of activities, events and projects. Much of what we do is powered by volunteers, who give their time in all sorts of ways – from gardening, wildlife work and litter picking to helping at events, running projects and raising funds.
Friends of Rowntree Park became a registered charity in June 2019. We fund our work through membership, donations, income from events and activities, grants and donations.
We always welcome people from the local community who would like to get involved. You might want to volunteer regularly, help with a one-off event or project, join one of our gardening or wildlife sessions, or become more involved in helping shape what the Friends do. There are lots of different ways to be part of the group.
Our Trustees oversee the charity, making sure our work remains in line with our charitable aims and that the organisation is financially sound.
Who runs the Friends of Rowntree Park
Although volunteers are at the heart of the charity, we also fund a small number of part-time freelance roles to coordinate and support our work.
Charity Manager – Abigail Gaines
Gardening Volunteer Lead – Stu Small
Education Coordinator – Christine Banham
Admin Support – Rebecca Dodgson
The people in these roles also contribute volunteer time to various projects and events. We also have some temporary roles we hope to continue if funding allows:
Volunteer Engagement Coordinator – Lindsay Mills
Wildlife Area Lead – Cas Causer
Who manages Rowntree Park?
Rowntree Park is managed by City of York Council, and Friends of Rowntree Park works alongside the council. The council retains overall responsibility for the park, including areas such as health and safety, opening and locking the park and basic maintenance. There is no longer a dedicated council park keeper or team of council gardeners based at Rowntree Park.
The Friends of Rowntree Park has responsibility for caring for and funding a number of specific garden areas within the park. We also fund and deliver additional improvements, projects, activities and events. We are also the community link with the council and have regular meetings with our council link(s).
The distinction is important: we don’t manage the park, but our volunteers, members, supporters and funders enable us to do much more within it and we have the landowners support for what we do.
What do the Friends of Rowntree Park do?
Our work is incredibly varied and continues to evolve according to the needs of the park and its community.
Our volunteers help garden and care for planted areas, support wildlife and biodiversity, litter pick and carry out seasonal tasks around the park. We run activities for children, young people and adults, provide opportunities to connect with nature, support health and wellbeing, and bring arts, music and community events into the park.
We also raise money to protect and improve Rowntree Park. This can range from planting and habitat improvements to benches, equipment and larger projects designed to make the park more welcoming and accessible to different parts of the community.
Alongside our regular work, we have a range of projects happening throughout the year, often developed with local people and delivered in partnership with other community organisations.
Everything we do comes back to caring for Rowntree Park and helping it remain a well-loved, welcoming and valuable public space for everyone.
We have lots of projects on the go! In addition for having responsibility for maintaining some areas of the park, we also run lots of projects and activities.
Aims of the charity
Charity objectives and aims:
1.Conserve, protect and improve the physical space/environment
2. Offer educational opportunities related to history, biodiversity and other aspects related to the park
3. Provide facilities/work with others on education, recreation and other leisure interests within the park
4. Promote civic responsibility, volunteering, health and wellbeing.
Gardening
Events
Music & Art
Support our work for just £10 a year
As a charity, we always welcome help fund raising. If you would like to support our charity or help us run events to raise money, get in touch!
