Friends of Forest Drive Park AGM 2026 will be held on Wednesday 27th May at the Old Court House at 7pm.
All friends and members of the public welcome, friend members should have received an email with details and copy of the agenda. Printed copies will be available on the night for anyone else.
Since our last AGM we have completed many tasks / events, a summary of which is below;
Feein Market – We held a Water or Wine stall which proved popular, accompanied by a Treasure Hunt which sold out within a few hours. Many happy participants and some who won several bottles of wine and one lucky winner of our E. Giulianotti voucher.
Chestnut Tree and Fruit Trees – We had a tree donated by Jim MacKenzie of Stonehaven and we received an assortment of fruit trees from Greenspace Aberdeenshire.
Wildflower Area – We received funding from Nescan Hub and assistance from John & Kate Malster at Curam Fyvie who supplied the plugs, shared their planting expertise and helped advise on planting layout.
Hamish Park Upgrade – This was done by Aberdeenshire Council, including multi sensory play elements, inclusive play area encouraging crawling, sliding, balancing, cognitive play, imagination all while being wheel chair accessible.
Community Herb Planter – We filled one of the planters we had received the previous year from Aberdeenshire Council with an assortment of herbs and edible plants. Free for any members of the community to come and take cuttings from.
Mini Wetland & Additional Wildflower Areas – With help from Bill Meston and his digger we made a new wetland scrape near a part of the path which is prone to flooding in wet weather, with the idea being water run off will fill the wetland rather than the path. It seems to be working well. We also added two new wildflower beds adjacent to this, one mini mound with daffodils in full bloom and the other area full of new wildflower seed. Additional wild flowers were purchased with a small grant from the Volunteering Matters Action Earth Fund.
Daffodil Bulb Planting – We received a few bags of Daffodils from Broombank Farms Ltd of Laurencekirk. These were planted around Hamish Park and on the new mini mound created when we did the mini wetland area.
Makaris Christmas Fayre – We took part in a Christmas Fayre at No.44 Hotel and Bar, holding a raffle with donated prizes and hand made creations by some of our Committee Team. Another successful day and great exposure for our group with people from all over visiting.
Hedgerow Planting – An assortment of over 300 trees were received from the Woodland Trust, which were planted near the fence line of the Scottish Power Transformer Station on the South West side of the Park. This is to encourage new wildlife, birds, insects and create a safe haven for them, while making the area look more attractive.
Keep Scotland Beautiful – We received our first award for the Park 🙂 It’s Your Neighbourhood Award – Level 4 – Thriving. This helps to enforce pride in our local community, a sense of achievement and acknowledgement that the work we do is worthwhile.
2nd Annual Quiz Night – Our annual quiz night at the Scout Hut was a huge success again, fully booked within a week, with a selection of great prizes donated by the local community and a very well prepared quiz master named Ken Ventors who did a fantastic job. Monies raised will go towards bee planters we are making, a bee post and some bird boxes for the Park.
New Bicycle Repair Station & Pump Unit – This was done by Aberdeenshire Council, allowing for secure parking, repairs and the ability to pump up bike tyres. One of the barriers to people cycling is not being able to leave their bicycle securely. The stands can be used by for maintaining bicycles, wheelchairs and prams.
Stonehaven Spring Clean – Committee Members, Friends of Forest Drive Park took part in a community litter pick, collectively over two days managing to remove 12 bags of rubbish from the Park and surrounding streets, covering an area of around 1 mile squared.
Easter Trail – Some of our committee members put together an Easter Trail for local children, free to join and help get children outside and enjoying their local greenspace. Over 50 people attended so a great success and valuable annual addition to our event calendar.
General Park Maintenance – Over the past year we have held several Park maintenance mornings / evenings where we conduct litter picks, dog mess pick ups, weeding and cleaning up dead brush from wild flower and grass areas. Along with trimming back trees, bushes to allow for better growth.
IBCs – We managed to secure two IBC units which will allow us to store water for watering trees, wildflowers and the planters without the need for several journeys back and forth to committee members houses refilling containers and watering cans. We can better manage watering as and when needed and help keep on top of it through-out the Spring / Summer months.
Community Picnic and BBQ – This was a successful day with Committee Members running a BBQ tent selling burgers, juice and crisps. A community picnic along side the Kinneff Tug O War clubs annual pulling competition where teams from all over Scotland train prior to the area qualifier on 1st June. Building on last years successful event, a great day was had by all who attended.
We have more planned for this year, Feein Market 2026 / Teddy Bears Picnic / PT Fitness Session during Love Parks Week (24th July to 2nd August) plus Mill O Forest School Christmas Fayre.
If you have any questions you wish to raise or want to request additional information, please contact us by email – fofdp23@gmail.com or you are welcome to ask us on the evening of the AGM.
The Friends of Forest Drive Park Committee