December 2013
Meeting reminder
This is a reminder that we have a meeting tomorrow night (or tonight if you’re reading this on Monday), upstairs at the Robert Gillow from 7.30 until we’re kicked out by the quiz team.
The latest cunning idea for the Triangle: a brick bread oven for community baking events. This will almost certainly be the hot topic tomorrow.
All are welcome.
(Posted 1 December 2013)
November 2013
Planning and work session
We have planning permission! It comes with quite a few conditions attached which mean we can’t get on with anything much until we’ve agreed the details with the planners, but having planning in place means we can apply to some of the larger funders for the dosh we need to transform the site.
This is a great excuse for a celebration, and Liz & Duncan have invited us to partake of hot drinks and cake at 47 Regent Street immediately following the next work session, which will be on Sunday 17th at 2pm. We will probably be concentrating on the workshop, but we also need to try to find the end of a clay drainage pipe, and there’s the odd stump or two to further dissuade.
All are welcome.
(Posted 11 November 2013)
September 2013
September successes
Lots to report this month. Here’s a summary:
- We have completed on the lease, and are now responsible for the Triangle for the next 30 years!
- Following the installation of a new door and gutters, the works to the exterior of the workshop are now very nearly complete, and our Take Pride funding is all spent. There’s a bit of making good still to do around the door and windows, and a few coats of paint to go on the double doors, and then our attention will turn to the interior.
- Arty things are afoot, and a local student has produced a concept design for an artwork/seating installation that we can hopefully turn into a reality.
- We have submitted a planning application for change of use of the land, demolition of the lean-tos, works to the towpath boundary wall, hard & soft landscaping, and a solar panel on the workshop roof. With a fair wind we should have a result before Christmas.
- The Fairfield Association has been offered £2000 to celebrate its spaces by one of the Fauna funders, so we are throwing a Party in the Paddock on Saturday October 5th from 3pm, with a range of Apple Day activities in the orchard, followed by a nosh up and a band in a marquee in the early evening. It’s not often that funders insist their money is spent on having a good time, so please come along and make the most of it, and bring a salad or cake to share if you can.
We will be having a volunteer session on Sunday 29th September at 2pm. Stumps are still on the menu, although we’re starting to run low, as is removal of small trees growing on the buttress shelf. We also really need to get the workshop cleared out so that we can get on with works inside.
Until then, enjoy the return of some warmth next week!
(Posted 20 September 2013)
August 2013
Next meeting and volunteer session
This message has been delayed in the hope that there might be a special announcement, but sadly whilst we put some signatures on a lease a couple of weeks ago, we are still waiting to complete. It can’t be long now, but let’s not kick our heels – there’s other stuff to be getting on with!
Firstly, we’ll have a volunteer session on Sunday 1st September, at 2.00pm. We still have door painting, channel clearing and stump removal on the list, as last session we devoted all our time to opening up and clearing out large amounts of rubbish from the lean-to buildings. There are some post clean-up photos of the inside of the buildings in our Gallery.
And secondly, we have a meeting next Monday 02 September, at 7.30pm upstairs at the Gillow pub.
(Posted 28 August 2013)
July 2013
Summer Fair, next session
What a fantastic Summer Fair we had! The sun shone, the burgers sizzled, the cakes flowed, the Triangle filled, the music played, and a good time was had by all. As a very welcome side effect of all this merriment, a really excellent £460 was transferred to the Triangle coffers.
Supreme thanks to our wonderful events team for organising it all; our information team for the plans, history, and questionnaires; and all the setter-uppers, barbecuers, bakers, musicians, stall-manners, furniture suppliers, and punters for making it such a great event. Also, a special mention for Speights fruit & veg wholesalers on Queen St who generously donated loads of salad.
It is surely safe to announce that we’ll do this again at some point.
In the meantime, to keep your spirits up, we can offer a nice big list of stuff to get done at volunteer sessions, the next of which will be this Sunday 21st July at 2pm. It’ll be a hot one, but nevertheless we can hopefully manage some of the following:
Workshop building
- Second coat of paint on the fascias & verge board
- Sand, fill holes, and paint the double doors
- Clear out rubbish from interior
- De-nail the rafters
Site generally
- Grub up tree stumps
- Remove trees growing out of Aldcliffe Rd boundary wall
- Clear out the workshop building drainage channel
- Investigate the toilet drainage
Paint will be provided but other decorating paraphernalia would be most useful.
Best wishes
(Posted 17 July 2013)
June 2013
June news and events!
There’s quite a lot to say in this update, so please focus.
The next meeting will be on Monday 1st July at 7.30 upstairs at the Gillow as usual. All welcome.
You may have noticed that works have now started on the workshop building. Lintels have been replaced over two of the windows and the single door, and the brickwork has been repointed. Tomorrow should see the double doors being repaired, and in the next week or so we should have new windows and a re-roof, just in time for our Summer Fair.
We still have plenty to do ourselves, not least of which is making sure the site is tidy ready for the Summer Fair, so we will be having a volunteer session this Sunday 23rd June at 2pm. For those of you with strimmers, now is the time to act!
Mike has been working on drawings for a planning application, which we have on display for comment at the Summer Fair, along with a really interesting piece of art/design from Sara Haynes, the Myerscough student who offered to help us.
Plans are well under way for the Summer Fair on July 6th, 12 noon til 4pm, but we will need your help to recreate last autumn’s Cake Sales success. We will definitely need lots of cake (just bring on the day from 11ish), and lots of people to take turns to stand behind a table and sell it. Help is also needed for setting up in the morning, and packing away from 4ish. Loan of outdoor tables and chairs would be very welcome. Further requests may follow.
Meanwhile, Duncan is having a dress rehearsal and we’re all invited!
No. 47 Regent Street – Summer Party*
Dear friends,
Please come to our Summer party!
- When? Sunday 30th June from 6:00 pm (not Saturday, the 29th of June as previously advertised)
- Where? Number 47, Regent Street
- Who? Duncan, Liz and Roman Bell, Trianglers, other Friends and Neighbours.
- What to bring? If you have a favourite thing you like to eat, please feel free to contribute to the buffet! We’ll have a BBQ!
And that’s it. Well done for making it to the end. Did I mention the Summer Fair?
Best wishes
(Posted 19 June 2013)
May 2013
More volunteer sessions
Here’s news of two further opportunities for some wholesome outdoor exercise, one of which isn’t on a Sunday afternoon!
Following our successful demolition of the workshop building porch last weekend, we will be having another session this Sunday 26th May at 2pm with the main objective of demolishing the toilet building. Other tasks available will be carefully knocking off the remains of the render around the door, more filling in holes, and tidying up the few small piles of rubble at the bottom end of the site. A wheelbarrow or two would be very useful.
Then the following Saturday (1st June), we will arrange for a skip to turn up first thing, and have an early morning volunteer session from 8am ish to fill it up. This means that we’ll also need to cone off the parking area from Thursday evening to ensure that there is somewhere to put the skip.
Hope to see you there.
(Posted 23 May 2013)
Next volunteer session
Of particular note are plans to hold a summer fundraising event at the Triangle on Saturday 6th July. This will certainly include the tried and tested tea and cake stalls, but we’re hoping to expand our offer to include a barbecue and sideshow attractions borrowed from Fairfield Fun Day, which is having a year off. We will need lots of cake and lots of help, so please put the date in your diary right now!
We’ll be having another volunteer session this coming Sunday 19th May at 2pm. Tasks will include tidying up mounds and filling in holes in readiness for the public, a first attempt at removing the defective porch roof slab, and if that succeeds, some serious cogitation about how to tackle the toilet building.
(Posted 15 May 2013)
April 2013
News and volunteer session
This month there are a number of things to report, so you’re getting headings in lieu of an attempt to string things together fluently:
Meetings
The next meeting is on Monday 6th May at 7.30pm, upstairs at the Robert Gillow.
Workshop building / volunteer session(s)
Subject to a photo survey which should happen in the next few days, we now have all the necessary permissions in place to get on with repair works to the workshop building, so we will be making a start at a volunteer session on Sunday 28th April at 2pm. This will include removing the entertainment system (which needs a lift to the tip), stripping out rusty conduit and other defunct items, erecting Duncan’s scaffold tower, and making a start on taking down the plasterboard ceiling. Assuming we don’t finish, which seems like a fair assumption, we will be carrying on the following weekend, date and time to be announced.
Contamination survey
We have now had the results of our Contamination Survey. The suboptimal but not entirely unexpected headline is that we do have some contamination in the form of elevated levels of hydrocarbons in the made ground (ie hardcore). The likely implication of this is that most of the site will need to be covered in a ‘no-dig barrier’ geotextile (bright orange woven plastic sheet) which can then be topsoiled or paved over. We’re awaiting a verdict on what the trees will make of this, but if they can cope with it then this is a setback but not a disaster.
Other stuff
Work on the lease is chugging along at a legal pace. Work on a planning application currently involves discovering that we have even more forms to fill in than previously thought. Work on a landscape design is happening but isn’t finished yet. Work on major funding applications is pretty much contingent on the previous stuff being complete.
Best wishes, Dave
(Posted 22 April 2013)
Latest news and volunteer session
In keeping with the extended winter, we don’t have any flowering successes to report this month, but are busy nurturing our various shoots in the hope of soon seeing some buds. In particular we are busy sorting out legal stuff on the lease, getting permissions for the workshop building repairs, scoping up and getting prices for the workshop building repairs, drafting planning application forms, and eagerly awaiting our contamination survey results.
Whilst we wait, and seeing how the weather has improved ever so slightly, we’ll have another volunteer session on Sunday 7th April at 2pm. This will probably include some tidying up, measuring up, pulling up, and cutting up, and we might even test how difficult it will be to grub up the tarmac patch using hand tools. Please come along and join in the fun.
(Posted 3 April 2013)
March 2013
March news and assistance required
The next meeting is on Monday 1st April as previously advertised.
We now have a tree survey and a bat inspection report, neither of which give any cause for concern, and both of which will be useful for our planning application.
We have instructed solicitors on the lease – which will almost certainly take a long time to resolve – but in the meantime have signed a license with the City Council that will enable us to progress with the works that we have funding for, once details have been sorted out with the Canal & River Trust, Conservation Officer, and contractors.
Soil Environment Services will be coming to site on Thursday 21 March to carry out a contamination survey. They want to be able to get a vehicle on to the site, which means we need a strategy for not having parked cars blocking the access from about 7.45 in the morning. If you can assist with this in any way, please get in touch.
A date for another volunteer session will hopefully follow soon.
(Posted 17 March 2013)
February 2013
Volunteer session and key!
The main highlight is that we have secured £3000 in funding from Lancashire County Council for a desktop study and contamination survey, which we will be getting on with asap. Things are starting to hot up, so the next meeting will be at 7.30 on Monday 4th March, and the upstairs room at the Gillow is also booked for Monday 1st April (seriously).
We’ll have another work session on Sunday 24th February at the usual time of 2pm. Tasks might include removing ground ivy, grubbing around in the mud to remove rubbish, and using the key we now have to unlock the workshop building and have a good poke around.
Hope to see you there.
* Actually Peter is away for the March meeting, so please please please consider volunteering for one-off minute-taking.
(Posted 20 February 2013)
January 2013
Three meetings and work party
Herewith news of three meetings (one historical) and a volunteer session, rearranged into chronological order for your convenience:
- The City Council’s Cabinet met last Tuesday and, amongst other things, accepted a recommendation to lease the Triangle to us (ie the Fairfield Association). This means that we should soon be able to accept our Take Pride funding offer and get on with legal stuff and firming up quotes from contractors.
- Roy Halliday from the County Council’s Environmental Projects team, and Helen Ryan who is the City Council’s Public Realm Officer are coming to look at the Triangle site on Thursday 31st Jan at 2.30. Both will hopefully provide lots of useful advice, and maybe help with securing funding too.
- Weather permitting we’ll have a volunteer session on Sunday 3rd Feb at 2pm. The main priority is finding out what is under the topsoil in some of the unexplored areas, but there will almost certainly be plenty of other things to do.
- Our next Friends of the Triangle subgroup meeting is on Monday 4th Feb at 7.30pm upstairs at the Robert Gillow. As ever, an agenda will appear a bit nearer the time.
(Posted 28 January 2013)
New Year’s news
Happy New Year Trianglers!
We rounded off 2012 with a funding offer of nearly £10,000 from the City Council’s Take Pride fund, and a wedding with the Fairfield Association.
At that meeting it was (correctly) predicted that there wouldn’t be anything new to talk about at an early January meeting, so we’re skipping it, and will convene again on Monday 4th February. In the meantime, the City Council’s Cabinet are due to make a decision about leasing the Triangle to us, which is necessary for us to spend the aforementioned money.
Talking of resolutions: if you haven’t done so already, now would be an excellent time to join the Fairfield Association. This confers no benefits other than occasional news direct to your inbox, and the lovely warm glow inside that comes from supporting your local environmental charity, but is nevertheless a bargain at £5 per adult or £10 per family for annual membership. Here’s a membership form to fill in, and also a gift aid declaration.
That’s all for now, but there will be volunteer session news soonish.
(Posted 3 January 2013)