Woodrow Park Group

The Woodrow Park Group was not one of the 22 core projects in the Coalfield Communities Landscape Partnership but it certainly gathered inspiration, encouragement and support from it.

The renovation of Woodrow Park in Cumnock was a top priority in the Cumnock Action Plan (CAP) but it is such a large scale and complex project that a dedicated group was formed. Leadership for the group was taken on by Councillor Neil Watts on receiving feedback from local residents and business owner as he campaigned for election to the council in 2022.

“I became involved with the CCLP through the Woodrow Park group and the local council. The vision is to create a new play area with a mining theme here. That was actually Carolann's idea to have the mining theme while we were talking about upgrading the park for the eight thousand residents of Cumnock.

Putting the tennis courts back in, a sports field for a variety of uses and a teenage hangout area including a pump track and skate park with an outdoor DJ deck. Upgrading the lighting as there is only lighting half way up which is a health and safety issue in the winter, and installing CCTV are all in the plan.

The Woodrow group also runs fun days as people asked for that. We aim to generally improve the environment and over time also have a coffee shop and toilets.

We are now at the point where the council has agreed funding for a feasibility study. The study won't take long but but securing the £422,000 for the park itself might. The whole project is likely to be in the region of £1.5 Million.

The Woodrow Park group is a group that I set up that sits under CAP. I am the driving force to get the park restored. A council contractor has drawn up plans for how it should look so 80% of the preparation work is done.We need now to find the funds and the vehicle for those funds. That will probably be the East Ayrshire Leisure Trust.

The council stripped the park so they should really be responsible for putting it back in. The Woodrow Group will continue to do fun days and look after the park, planting trees etc while driving the council.

There used to be a swimming pool here, a bowling green and tennis courts. Anyone in the community will tell you we used to spend our entire summer here. In the pool, going to the cafe for fish and chips, playing on the swings and paddling in the river. There is a longing to go back to that.

We are never going to get the pool back but we can do the rest.

In some ways Cumnock has bounced back really well. There are good businesses here If you look at our town centre and compare it to other town centres, in some respects Cumnock is actually quite good. We could do with some larger brands but we don't have many shop units that are empty. As a retailer to trade I can say we are experiencing increased footfall.

We have free parking, lots of local businesses and good local shops. The businesses that supported the food court at the fun day were all local businesses.

Woodrow is a real community project as it involves every age, from schoolchildren to pensioners who remember what it used to be like. There are people from all of the groups represented, the history group, CAP, the community council and the school, that's how we built the committee.

By making this about the mining heritage that will appeal to everyone of every age here. It will also allow us to approach the National Lottery Heritage Fund, everyone will benefit”