On Friday, 23rd November, local school children assisted in planting twelve trees, forming a copse that will hopefully help to improve the visual attraction around the recycling facility.

On Saturday, 24th November, local residents and FoTP got together to plant a further twelve trees in an area in the Tothill enclosure, creating an improved habitat for local wildlife.

Fotp committee members, PCC park wardens, local residents and park users joined forces on Saturday 26th May 2007 to tidy up the viewing mound in Tothill Park. Over 15 people gave up just a couple of hours to remove all weeds in and around the pathway edges, drains, grass borders and removed excess soil to improve the appearance of the area. The volunteers were surprised just how much work could be done in a few hours and although it was heavy going everyone was pleased with the final result.

On Saturday 28th April 2007 over 25 volunteers both young and old gave a little of their valuable time to help the FOTP Committee re-instate a flowerbed in Tothill Park. It was a chance for local residents and park users to meet the Committee members and discuss the proposed environmental plans whilst doing their bit to improve the park's infrastructure. The flower bed was located at the western end of the park just up from the tennis court and the morning was considered a great success.

The park's tree border consisting of over 120 trees was raised to allow easier access to pathways and to provide additional light into the park by Lanhydrock Road and Cleveland Terrace street lighting. It has also made the trees safer and less susceptible to damage from the elements.

The public consultations highlighted the requirement to re-locate the re-cycling bottle bank from an area close to Tothill library and the children's play area. This was the most popular request from the feedback return slips from the Winter Newsletter. It was agreed by PCC that it's location was unsuitable as glass and rubbish presented a hazard to park users. PCC has now re-located the bottle bank to an area on Farringdon Road and increased the range of re-cycling facilities available to the community, in keeping with current government policy. This has proved very popular and the amount of re-cycling seen through the community has increased.

The Committee invited the two local Primary Schools (Prince Rock and Salisbury Road) to sponsor bird/bat boxes, which have been put up around the park. We believe this will again encourage ownership of the park and educate the children on the wildlife around the park.

The Committee and local community recently conducted litter pick-up mornings and a Daffodil bulb planting morning. These proved extremely popular and an article was placed in The Herald newspaper. More events have since taken place including planting of 30 trees and a monthly "working morning" is planned throughout 2007 including re-instating flowerbeds (see FOTP diary), which we hope will see more members of the community getting involved. All we ask is you dedicate one hour or so per month to a very rewarding venture which really does make a difference, for example last months litter pick-up collected ten large bags of litter from the shrub borders and in the park.

Work has now commenced on the re-furbishment of the school playing field fence, this includes sealing and painting which will ensure it remains sound for many years to come. Also new "No Dogs Allowed" signs have been mounted at each entrance and the Dog Warden has increased patrols to deter a small majority who still use this area to exercise dogs.

FOTP Committee has initiated the regular sweeping of the park pathways by mechanical sweepers to remove debris from the borders; this has had an immediate impact in making the park look cleaner and less prone to flooding. PCC are to conduct exploratory work on the path adjacent to "Tothenge" to determine why the path continues to flood. The area leading to Tothill Library will be cleaned up by offenders conducting Community Service improving access for park users.

School children from Prince Rock and Salisbury road schools have entered a FOTP Committee to design the notice boards for the park. The winning entries (one from each school) will have their design manufactured and will be unveiled by the Deputy Major of Plymouth.

Using feedback from several public consultations the regeneration designs for Tothill Park have been made. All aspects of the design have been done using feedback from local residents, park users, the FOTP Committee and PCC. The reaction from the community has been extremely positive and we hope tonight that you provide the final feedback required. All issues raised by you tonight will be submitted to the Committee and PCC and if a common theme about any of the plans is noted changes will be made.

FOTP Committee in conjunction with PCC have started an anti-litter campaign around the park. Local residents and many park users regularly complain at the amount of litter in and around the park. At best it is an eyesore, at worse it is a health hazard with broken glass, beer cans and plastic debris potential dangers. We ask you all to take ownership of the park and encourage other users to do the same, if you see litter please take a few moments and place it in a litterbin. If everyone does this then the park will look a lot tidier and it will be a much pleasanter environment to be around.