Recruitment drive to secure new volunteers for forest park

Recruitment drive to secure new volunteers for forest park

30 November 2022

VOLUNTEERS are to be recruited to work in Castlewellan Forest Park as part of a major investment scheme to make the stunning facility even better.

Details of a new initiative, which will see volunteers recruited to work up to seven hours a day on Wednesday and Saturday, have been unveiled by Newry, Mourne and Down Council.

The local authority has a lease to maintain recreational areas within the park, with the Forest Service remaining responsible for the commercial forestry production and extraction operation.

The council’s Sustainability and Environment Committee is responsible for the Walled Garden and Rhododendron Wood and has employed a head gardener and a gardener to manage the area. 

Work is also underway to recruit two more apprentice gardeners.

Earlier this year, the Heritage Lottery Fund provided almost £2.7m in assistance with the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (DAERA) and the EU weighing in with £500,000 for a revamp of the stunningly picturesque park.

Construction work at the park’s Bothy Yard has been completed and included the provision of two new greenhouses, so-called cold frame units, a variety of new services including IT provision, resurfacing works, new toilets, an interpretation area and a new disabled lift providing access to the terrace area.

Work on the Walled Garden will start next year and include tree and path work, the renovation of the fountains, drainage work and general landscaping. Members of the local authority’s Environment and Sustainability Committee were told last week that historically, volunteers have been recruited by the Forest Service to help and assist with grounds maintenance works within the Walled Garden.

But as a result of a change of lease with the council taking over control of this particular area, there is no longer a volunteer service. But that is set to change.

Council officials plan to set up a volunteer group to work alongside its own grounds maintenance team within the Walled Garden, Bothy Yard and Rhododendron Wood. The local authority has explained that the establishment of a volunteer group is a key element of the Heritage Lottery funding where there must be extensive community involvement, education, outreach and tangible benefits to the area.

Councillors have been told that the council’s match funding and partnership working within the Heritage Lottery Fund’s project must deliver a significant number of resources, with the proposed gardening volunteer group a significant element of delivering this.

Council officials say involving the wider community provides many benefits where volunteers can engage in the health and wellbeing advantages of working in the forest park and may also foster ownership of many schemes.

Other planned work includes new landscape and drainage within The Grange courtyard, a new pedestrian path from the entrance gates to the main car park an a new vehicular road off Castle Avenue to the existing car park. 

There will also be a new traffic control barrier at Castle Avenue and caravan spaces will be relocated with the feature entrance gates at the Castle Avenue entrance restored, alongside the restoration of The Grange courtyard buildings and the reconstruction of a derelict building block.

Elsewhere, visitor facilities will be created in the Stove Conservatory including an interpretation centre, with a platform lift installed to provide access to the terrance for people with reduced mobility. 

The local council has assumed the development and management of recreation within the park from DAERA under a lease from the Forest Service until 2045 with the lease involving the management of the Bothy Yard walled garden, rhododendron wood and gardener’s house.

In addition, the council will assume the management of the wider core recreational area including the main caravan and camping facilities, with the ‘touring in the trees facility’ continuing to be operated by the Forest Service until December 2024, after which the site will transfer to the local authority with the Forest Service continuing to manage the woodland. 

Council officials have described the Bothy Yard as an “integral part” in the restoration of the gardens, as the glasshouses and cold frames will enable the local authority gardening team to propagate and grow plants historically grown in the garden dating back to 1903. 

Under the Heritage Lottery funding, the local authority will restore the garden as the core of a dynamic living arboretum, with a welcome and interpretation centre created along with community educational space and café facilities to complement current recreational and accommodation offering on site.