As reported in this morning's Courier, yesterday afternoon, I have the pleasure of presenting a cash award of £150 from Barney's Fund to Dr Hilda Spear, Chair of the Friends of Balgay, to help the group with its excellent project to replant the historic Rose Window at the park.
The photograph below is of my presenting the award to Hilda, with Barney's Fund committee members and representatives from Friends of Balgay looking on. Below the photograph is the Barney's Fund news release on the event.
The Friends of Balgay started off as small local group dedicated to preserving and improving the amenities of Balgay Park and now with almost one hundred members, they have completed many successful projects including the removal of through traffic to the park. Amongst the parks many historic artefacts, the Rose Window from the Church of St Mary’s gutted by fire in 1841 was embedded in the earth on the slope of the south side of the hill in 1873. For the past 10 years the group have planted it twice per year but it was recently earmarked to be removed and preserved elsewhere. However, after much discussion, Historic Scotland, Archaeology Scotland and the Museum agreed that the Rose Window should stay where it is on the basis that the Friends of Balgay clear the window, replenish the soil with an alpine friendly supplement and plant it with long-lasting alpines to avoid further disruption to the stones of the window.
Barney’s Fund is delighted to assist this local community group in another successful project at Balgay Park. This particular project also helps to protect something of historical importance and the members have worked hard to convince other interested parties that the Rose Window should stay where it is. Friends of Balgay Chairman, Dr Hilda Spear, said “We are very much looking forward to its restoration as an attractive flower bed in the park with the help of Barney’s Fund”.