Good progress

Good progress is being made in the Rose Garden - a lot of the slabs have now been taken up, and the ground is being prepared for re-laying. Although the side-paths are currently fenced-off, the centre path is still accessible to the public.

Work in the Rose Garden

Work on the rose garden in the park is well underway. This rather ugly vehicle is being used to help move some of the slabs which are being lifted.

More work in the park

Work started this morning in the Rose Garden, as you can see above.  Senior Park Ranger Lydia Wilde tells us that "the existing slabs are being taken up, and new slabs will be laid in this area to replace the existing worn out paving and the low level walls will be re-pointed.  During this work the contractors will try and leave at least one walk way open to minimise disruption to the public."

In the meantime the work around the pavilion is continuing, and, despite the difficult weather conditions, good progress is being made on clearing space behind the building for the extension.

Another very cold day

I'm in the doghouse for forgetting that there was a photo session in the park today, though I was there less than an hour later. Progress on the pavilion is impressive, especially given the freezing conditions.

Work in progress

There has been quite a lot of progress since work started on the pavilion yesterday, though most of it is at the back, so not very obvious. As the building is going to be extended at the back, it is going to be quite a major task opening up the space for the extension.

Work on the Pavilion has started

I'm delighted to be able to report that work on the improvements to the pavilion started this morning! I'll post updates here from time to time, though probably not every day (even if I do go there every day to record progress for my own interest)!

Major improvements in progress

I would not want to under-state how much things have already improved in Priory Park since the low in 2002, which was when Friends of Priory Park was formed, but it was hard work to get the Lottery Funding, and since then we have been eagerly waiting for the more significant improvements which were planned. Just before Christmas the stone carvings were installed by the Paganel Drive entrance by the Priory ruins, and they are now completely unveiled. At present they look rather bland, but I'd expect that they will look better after they have 'weathered' a bit, and those who know more about this than I do have confirmed that this should happen.

Now fencing has gone up around the old pavilion, and work is due to start within days on the long-awaited improvements to the building (though the main frontage will retain its character). This will probably be the most visible change in the park, but there are a lot of other changes which we can expect to see over the next few months.

Of course, it is important to recognise another change, namely that we now have Park Rangers - Lydia during the week and Mark at weekends. Their visible presence helps to ensure that the park is a better place to visit, and the activities which they organise and run are a real asset, as is the regular newsletter which is delivered to locals in paper form, and of course the information now available on the Dudley website and on Facebook - thanks Lydia and Mark. Finally, apologies for the lack of updates on the web site of late - down to idleness on my part, though also there hasn't been all that much new to report, at least that I was aware of. During the work on the pavilion I hope to photograph it every day, though I won't of course post the images here that frequently.