Brief history of Friends of Pittville
In 2002, plans to bid for Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) monies to restore Pittville Park and Estate began and Friends of Pittville was established to support the bid.
The overall aim of ‘The Friends’, as covered in the four objectives in our Constitution, is to promote greater community involvement in the enjoyment, protection, future restoration and renewal of Pittville Park and Estate.
The Bid: the HLF was extremely keen to see the involvement of local people in such a project and Friends of Pittville played an important and active role in supporting Cheltenham Borough Council with the bid.
Friends of Pittville carried out a survey of members to establish their priorities for the park and estate. The wider public was consulted through the Friends website and a printed newsletter distributed to 3000 households and businesses in Pittville, St Paul’s and Fairview. Members of Pittville executive committee sat on the two Working Groups involved in the process, contributing both information and ideas to the development of the application.
Unfortunately, the submission faced fierce competition from other applicants throughout the country and was unsuccessful.
The work done for the bid provided a thorough assessment of the Park and Estate. An Access Plan, an Audience Development Plan, a Conservation Management Plan, a Training Plan, and a Management and Maintenance Plan were created.
These documents form the basis for our plans for the future.