Author: esther Page 3 of 11

Dear Friend,

You are invited to attend the AGM of Friends of Winterfield to be held on

Tuesday 30^th May at 7.30pm at

Belhaven Parish Church Hall,

Belhaven Road, Dunbar, East Lothian EH42 1NH.

We look forward to seeing you.  Please see the agenda overleaf and our website for a copy of last year’s minutes.  You can also get an update on what we’ve been doing over the past year.

Dunbar Cricket Club is considering locating a storage container on the former rugby club site

East Lothian Council’s second grass bank and seating is nearing completion; providing a viewing platform over the Promenade wall.  This lovely stone bench provides glorious views over the golf course and Belhaven for visitors and locals, keen to enjoy Dunbar’s sunshine.   The pitch and putt is in use and the meadow flower beds will soon be seeded.

This year’s Fun Dog Show will take place on Sunday 25^th June between 2.30 and 4 pm.  We’d greatly appreciate assistance with the organising of this event, if not this year, then next.  We would appreciate help on the day, and the pre-planning work needs a small project team to organise judges, prizes, insurance etc.  If you think you could take this on, please contact Sue Anderson through me.  Donations of raffle prizes will be greatly appreciated!

The Pavilion has finally been demolished and the site has been cleared in preparation for meadow flower beds.  We’ve decided to take this simple measure to allow everyone the chance to appreciate the site as it is while also benefitting insect life over the summer.  It would be great to hear your views on where we should go next with the site

Other future projects could include replacing the gates onto the Promenade, more picnic tables and additional benches.  We’d welcome your ideas and contribution.

As this is the AGM, we will be electing Committee members.  The holders of the main positions are prepared to stay in place this coming year.  If you are interested in joining the Committee, please contact me or volunteer at the AGM.  We’re always looking for new Friends of Winterfield members so please pass the word on to your friends.  Being a Friend of Winterfield is free.

The Pavilion was demolished last month and the site cleared of tarmac ready for a planting of meadow flowers this year.  We hope that this will give everyone a chance to appreciate the new view and provide an opportunity to think about what should happen next.  We’ve asked East Lothian Council to plant a colourful mix of meadow flowers to benefit the insect and bird population at the park.

Volunteers are being sought to help record weather statistics in Dunbar.

The Met Office is the United Kingdom’s National Weather Service and is responsible for the provision of climate and weather forecasting services in the UK. One of our roles is to gather and collate the National Archive for Climate which we hold for use by the people of the UK.

One of the major sources for data that goes into the archive is the voluntary climate observing network. This is a network of stations throughout the UK where volunteers manually take daily climate readings and report them to the Met Office.

The Dunbar station has a long history, having been opened in 1930 at the behest of Sir William Keith.  It is based just off North Road, near to the tennis courts.  It is an easy walk from the town centre, or parking is available at the site.

The two current observers have, deservedly, decided to give up their duties.  Who can blame them after 30 plus years?

We are currently looking for a small band of two or more volunteer observers who would be willing to give some time to take these readings on behalf of the Met Office and the District Council for the Dunbar weather station.

The people we are looking for would preferably have an interest in weather, and be able to spare approximately five to 10 minutes to share in the collection of readings in Dunbar at around 0900 GMT on a daily basis.

Travel to and from the station would be additional to the time to take the readings. One of the sensors is on a tower, so an ability to climb stairs is essential.  An annual stipend is payable in order to offset any expense incurred in undertaking these duties.

Training and full support will be provided. Ideally some people in the group should to be able to use the internet, but if you are unable to do this, please do not be put off.

If you are interested or have any questions, please contact Ian Dawson from the Met Office on 01576 610545 or via email at ian.dawson@metoffice.gov.uk

Ian Dawson

Regional Network Manager, South of Scotland

Met Office,  Eskdalemuir Observatory,  Langholm,  Dumfriesshire, DG13 0QW  Scotland

Tel. 01576 610545  Mob. 07824 104509

The targeted winter demolition of the Pavilion (approved by East Lothian Council (ELC) in 2016) was delayed due to a public concern over the Pavilion being used as a “roosting site for bats”.  Following investigation by Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH), FoW were contacted by Liz McLean of East Lothian Council to advise us of the following:

SNH have advised that –

‘No licence is required from SNH because there is no evidence that bats have used the pavilion.  To that extent SNH are not involved apart from the unlikely event of finding a bat.  The survey stated that a hibernation roost was not likely so in many respects a winter demolition is the safer option. ‘

Essentially,’ the Council can feel secure in demolishing the building without the emergency survey recommended by David Dodds’.

ELC will re-activate the tenders and progress with the demolition.

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For our part, Friends of Winterfield requested that the cleared site should be “grassed over”, in preference to tarmac as it will be less costly to lay; less environmentally damaging; and easier to lift again, should a decision be made to reuse the site.

We are still awaiting details on the timing of the demolition of the Pavilion within the Public Park.  Demolition was agreed by East Lothian Council and we believed it was to take place in the spring of 2016.