Sidney Park has been a focal point for a range of Big Local supported initiatives over the years
When? various projects from 2016-2024
Partners: various including many of the Park users and groups. We Are Fish. Sidney Park Partnership. Cleethorpes in Bloom.
Sidney Park opened in 1904 (as Sydney Park) and sits on the boundary of the Big Local North Cleethorpes area. The park is a focal point for the community and Big Local North Cleethorpes has long supported projects that improve the park for those living in the area.
Sidney Park is a historic park in the centre of the North Cleethorpes area. It’s important to local residents and there are a diverse mix of users in the park. As such, it’s been part of Big Local North Cleethorpes focus since the start.
In 2016 we supported SidFest events in the park to support local residents and this was a great way to begin our introduction as Big Local to the local area.
In 2017 there was a vision to create a community venue within North Cleethorpes and Sidney Park seemed an ideal location. There were already a range of community ventures in the park – cafe, fishing, football, boat club and others.
Community consultations were telling us that many people within the ward of North Cleethorpes, and the wider community, feel that Sidney Park had been overlooked in terms of funding and development. People said very clearly that the park is not being used to its full potential, and would like to see a greater level of investment in the park with regards to community activities and facilities. In order to achieve this, Big Local was proposing that a building of some sort would need to be built on Sidney Park. The building would be community focused – as well as a base for Big Local North Cleethorpes – and would house the existing groups as well as provide for completely new opportunities and offers for the public.
During 2017 there were surveys and consultations and park users were met and there was a general review of possibilities.
A Community Hub in the park?
The strategy adopted by Big Local was to bring together the existing park user groups into a partnership to agree a strategy for regeneration. The Big Local Steering Group set aside an indicative budget of £100,000 in the Plan to kick-start capital investment with a view to developing a building as a community resource in the park with a particular emphasis on providing facilities for young people.
Forming the partnership and agreeing a consensus for development amongst the user groups proved to be impossible. Some user groups were reluctant to work alongside others and there was a fear expressed that Big Local was looking to ‘take over’ their operations despite attempts to clarify its facilitation role in bringing groups together.
By 2018 it was clear that this partnership work and building of a new community facility within Sidney Park was not going to happen. Big Local shifted our focus towards purchasing and renovating a community hub elsewhere. This led within a couple of years to the opening of 82 Grimsby Road as a community hub instead.
New ventures in the Park
Of course the Park was central to the area, so Big Local North Cleethorpes continued to work on different projects with the Park as a focus.
We helped start up “Sidney Park Watch” – a form of Neighbourhood Watch for the Park led by keen local residents. Over time “Friends of Sidney Park” was a different group working on the park and eventually “The Sidney Park Partnership” became a resident led group providing all kinds of activities and events for residents and families within the Park. Big Local provided small amounts of funding to each of these ventures to support the Park in general.
Youth projects at VANEL used the Park for litter picks and event such as a week long event in 2018 funded through Groundwork Grimsby which saw young people leading environmental pop-up stalls and activities within the Park.
When our Green Influencers programme was getting underway in Cleethorpes, the “Sidney Park Sorters” group of young people got very active in the park keeping it tidy and growing their own plants.
VANEL and Big Local supported Cleethorpes in Bloom to apply for and receive an Award for All grant to allow them to create a “micro-park” within the Park which was developed in partnership including the Green Influencers group.
In 2022 there was a whole summer of fun in the park led by the Sidney Park Partnership and sponsored by Big Local North Cleethorpes. This led fun days for families, family feast food events and more.
Funding artwork on both walls of the Pitstop; providing some picnic benches and improvements to pathways; and providing a lot of resources for planting and growing were other ventures supported by Big Local.
A Green Route around Cleethorpes
A specific project around 2020 was a Heritage funded project to research green spaces around Cleethorpes and produce a walking route around the area. Of course Sidney Park featured heavily and you can find out more about the Green Route project here.
Sidney Park Partnership
Promoting various family and community events in the Park.
Pitstop in the Park
Originally managed and run by KDARS, since around 2022 this has been managed by We Are Fish and is a small shop and cafe for the local community. It also supports a number of community initiatives including breakfast clubs, food handouts and a warmspace.
Big Local North Cleethorpes has organised and funded a couple of mural artworks on both sides of the Pitstop building, as well as working with We Are Fish to support their local community projects.
