Maryon Wilson Park’s Open Day is coming up this Saturday, 19th May: a chance to meet and feed the animals, plus a range of other family-friendly activities. The event takes place 11am-3pm, and you can keep up to date with Maryon Wilson Animal Park on Facebook.
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Greenwich Council is set to keep control of Maryon Wilson Animal Park, finally abandoning plans to spin the centre off into a charitable trust and ending five years of uncertainty about its future.
The council first announced plans to scrap the park’s budget in December 2010, with a view to looking for sponsorship.
After widespread protests, the council agreed to hand over management to a trust, Maryon Wilson Animal Park Ltd (MWAP) which would raise funds and operate the park.
But the trust has struggled to raise the funds needed to take on the park – believed to be about £100,000 per year. Last year, the Friends of Maryon and Maryon Wilson Parks published published an open letter to council leader Denise Hyland asking for her to reconsider the decision to spin the centre off, made by her predecessor Chris Roberts.
While the council has deleted £42,350 – the cost of a stockman, vet fees and animal feed – from its parks budget, it has continued to run the park in the meantime, with last year’s running costs put at £70,000.
Now, if the council’s cabinet agrees on Wednesday, it will keep control of the park, and MWAP will become a Friends group, raising money and supplying volunteers – just as it proposed in last year’s open letter.
The council says it will hold a “complete review of revenue and capital expenditure” on the site and look to “reduce costs incrementally”.
Greenwich Council needs to step in to secure the future of Maryon Wilson Animal Park, its leader Denise Hyland has been told by park users.
The running of the park was handed to to a charity after the council announced plans to withdraw funding four years ago.
But Maryon Wilson Animal Park Ltd is struggling to raise the £100,000 per year it needs to keep the park going – leading to the Friends of Maryon and Maryon Wilson Parks to ask Greenwich to consider taking it back into council ownership.
In an open letter to Cllr Hyland, the Friends group proposes the council takes on the costs of running the animal centre, with MWAP Ltd acting as an independent fundraising body to help pay for animal feed and improvements to their acommodation.
Greenwich taking back the park would also end the issue of part of a public park being leased out to a third party for 30 years, the Friends group says.
The letter reads:
For the Friends group, the best solution is for the council to own and run the Animal Park, and for the charity, MWAP Ltd., to act as fund-raisers to help pay for the animal feed and improve the animals’ living conditions and care. If the charity becomes successful then they could also help pay for the council staff but not line manage them.
The charity could concentrate on running events and developing an animal education service for schools and young people. The Parks and Open Spaces staff can then continue to run the Animal Park on a day to day basis, maintaining the established high standards of Health and Safety needed for managing the combination of animals and child visitors.
Such an arrangement would also avoid any unwelcome issues with leasing the land and losing significant sections of a public park from the public domain.
The suggestion above seems to us to be something that respects everybody and is a much more sensible, realistic, and sustainable financial arrangement than the current plans.
It would be fantastic for the new council administration to agree a new solution that secures the Animal Park’s long term future.
We ask that you take the Animal Park back into the council’s long term care whilst continuing to work with the dedicated people at MWAP Ltd. to improve the park’s animal welfare and educational facilities.
The council’s 2010 budget savings document put the park’s annual running costs at £43,000. But it’s understood that this was massively under-estimated, as it didn’t include staffing costs as well as other outgoings such as paying for park rangers to run tours.
While some sponsorship has been found from developer Durkan and supermarket Sainsbury’s, making up the shortfall has been a tall order for the charity.
Regular events at the park include its annual Easter egg hunt, which takes place this year on 29 March.
Maryon Wilson Animal Park are holding a Christmas event next Saturday, 12-2.30pm. They’re promising a chance to hand-feed the deer, eat ‘festive ice creams’, sing carols, and visit Santa’s grotto; plus hot drinks and nibbles.
You can find Maryon Wilson Animal Park on Facebook, and also on Twitter.
It’s Maryon Wilson Animal Park’s Summer Festival on Saturday 19th July, 11am – 3pm. From the organisers:
“Join Maryon Wilson Animal Park for a fun-packed family day out. Come along and enjoy:
..and more!”
Address: Maryon Wilson Animal Park, Flamsteed Road, Charlton, SE7 8HT
Website: www.maryonwilsonanimalpark.org.uk
Twitter: @mwanimalpark
facebook.com/maryonwilsonanimalpark
The ‘unofficial’ Twitter feed of the Friends Of Maryon Wilson Park brought news this week of new arrivals in the park:
And here’s a pix of the actual new sheep… #se7 #maryonwilson pic.twitter.com/fzUBer2d5a
— MaryonWilsonParkSE7 (@MaryonWilsonSE7) June 2, 2014
As well as signs that Maryon Wilson Animal Park Ltd (the company set up in 2012 to run the animal park facilities – not to be confused with the Friends of Maryon Wilson Park group) – has secured some sponsorship:
Sponsor’s name has appeared on the Animal Park signs. Anyone seen an announcement or know how much for? #SE7 pic.twitter.com/Jm49eh1fis
— MaryonWilsonParkSE7 (@MaryonWilsonSE7) June 3, 2014
There’s nothing on the official website about Durkan’s involvement yet, but there is an announcement about quarterly open meetings, starting July 5th:
Due to a high amount of interest, the Board at Maryon Wilson Animal Park will now be running quarterly open meetings on a Saturday morning. These meetings will be open to all members of the public to keep up to speed with the activities of the Board and the animal park.
The first of these meetings will be held on Saturday 5th July from 10:30am – 12pm at Charlton Park RDA. There will be an introduction to the current Board members, a catch-up on the past three months at the park and a Q&A session. Light refreshments will also be available.
If you are interested in the park, if it holds a special place in your heart, or if you would like to know more about how you can help, then we would love to meet you!
Date: Saturday 5th July
Time: 10:30am – 12pm
Location: Charlton Park RDA Hut, Charlton Park
If you’re able to attend the meeting, some interesting questions to ask the Board might include:
If you do go along, let us know what you learnt.
Festive goings on in Maryon Wilson Animal Park this Saturday, with mince pies, hot chocolate, seasonal singing, and a chance to feed the deer. Come along to support the volunteers, and donate what you can to help keep the deer in the park. It’s all happening 2-3.30pm, Saturday December 22nd in Maryon Wilson Park. You can follow the Animal Park on Twitter: @MWAnimalPark.
