The FDP work in partnership with Plymouth City Council & other community providers to maintain the Victorian-era Devonport Park in use & heritage and to ensure that it is used and enjoyed by all. Beginning as a community friends group in 2005, it became a registered charity in 2014 & relies entirely upon donations. Prior to 2014 the group worked alongside the local authority and the Devonport Regeneration Community Partnership to £3.29 million in funding, from the Heritage Lottery Fund, to restore the park to it's former glory whilst building a state of the art Cafe & community hub and a large play area. The charity organises and runs many community events each year and has a subsidiary group: The Devonport Park Voluntary Gardeners, who work with the council gardeners to help maintain the park. The volunteers grow & plant many of plants required each year within the park, maintain many of the parks' formal gardens and create and maintain most of the floral beds. With the aid of our horticultural consultant, we have for a number of years offered informal training through monthly courses, free to all. The charity has close links with and the Devonport Park Community Choir who regularly perform at our Community events. With the help of the charity, Devonport Park has been awarded coveted prizes by South West in Bloom and were awarded in 2012 with the Queens Award for Voluntary Service.
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In 2005, Plymouth City Council, together with the DRCP (Devonport Regeneration Community Partnership) decided to bid for a Big Lottery (Heritage Lottery Grant) to restore the much neglected park. To succeed, they needed to demonstrate that the bid had public support. The Friends of Devonport Park community group were formed as a result. The bid of £3.9 million was successful and the “friends” became leading stakeholders in the project. Since then the Friends have received various grants themselves in order to continue the work. The initial restoration project was completed in 2012 & the FDP became a registered charity in 2014. Since then the FDP have continued to make improvements and undertake a lot of the routine horticultural maintenance of the park & continue to work in close cooperation with Plymouth City Council (PCC) to maintain the standard achieved under the restoration of the park.
Work undertaken during the restoration included:
● Reinstalling the Victorian bandstand together with lighting and power
● Restoration of the Victorian lodge
● Design and construction of the park café & community room
● Design and re-siting of the children’s play areas
● Installation of Victorian style lights and street furniture as well as a Victorian-style clock
● The Napier and Sicilian fountains have been renovated together with new figureheads and are now in full working order
● All paths were renovated to a high standard
- Horticultural re-design to improve safety & the aesthetic of the park
Work undertaken by the Friends since 2012:
● Creation of a new sensory garden
● The redesign, replacement, and improvement of many flower and raised beds.
● Installation of a Petanque pitch
● All seating and waste bins have been replaced with Victorian style units
● Restoration of the treasured "Dorris Gun".
Subsidiary & associated groups:
The Devonport Park Voluntary Gardeners Group
Devonport Park Community Choir
The FDP rely entirely upon donations in order to continue its work in helping to maintain, restore and improve the park and its amenities. The charity run several community events within the park each year, fund the gardening team and source funding for various projects to improve the amenities and aesthetics of the park for use by the local community and visiting tourists. Where it can, it also supports many other local community interest groups to help make Plymouth a better place to live and to support its inhabitants.