Five years ago some of the community who were concerned about the declining state of the park got together to try to do something about it. They formed the Friends of Dunwood Park, a community group which now has over one hundred and fifty members. They sought and received the backing of the people who used the park and the Parish Council and the Area Committee of Oldham Council. A committee was appointed and during their first year, 2004, they achieved some remarkable success.

Dunwood Park was allocated £80,000 from the Fair Shares programme to be spent on the development of a skateboard facility at George St., on repairs to the drains, on woodland management and renewal of the children’s playground.

A forestry consultant's survey of the woodland in Dunwood Park was received and a draft constitution agreed to be placed before the AGM. Major restorations of some woodland paths and culling of trees took place in 2005. Repairs to the drainage of the paths and to the pavilion roof were also undertaken. Street lighting was erected and a survey of the views park users was conducted by the Friends group.

A master plan was produced by the OMBC Parks Architect - Mr K.Bennell,  for the future planned development of the park.

2006 saw the opening of the new children's play area and a further survey of local opinion on the future of the park.

The excellent and productive working relationship between the community and the Local Authority prompted the Council to support the request made by the Friends of Dunwood Park to the Area Committee to apply for Big Lottery funding.

As a result, and following two years of hard work involving officers of the Parks Department, many community groups, schools, councillors, and committed individuals, the Big Lottery has provisionally allocated £1,090,000 to be used for the renovation and refurbishment of Dunwood Park.

The award of this money is subject to the successful completion of the final phase of the bid process which is now in progress. To assist in this they have also granted £48,000 to fund the necessary professional work, planning, and audience development.

Click here to see a summary of the work done by the Friends of Dunwood Park during the last 12 months

There is a great deal of work to be done, not all of it limited to the lottery bid, and everyone can help. Please use our online form to join the Friends of Dunwood Park. Simply by completing the form and adding a quick comment to simply to express your support for the work we are doing, will help our efforts tremendously.

If you would like to offer more practical support, then please use the form to get in touch.

The Friends of Dunwood Park launched the Dunwood Community Partnership in January 2009 with a Prospectus designed to inform the community of the proposed plans for the redevelopment of the park.

The Dunwood Community Partnership provides an opportunity for individuals, groups, businesses, schools and societies to register and develop their support for the Big Lottery Bid. The Big Lottery fund rightly demands that the money it allocates is well spent. It is the responsibility of the community to show how this will be done. In particular, we must show that we value the park and are committed to its future.

Every individual or community group which records their support for and commitment to the re-development of Dunwood Park adds weight to the case we must make to the Big Lottery Fund in order to secure the money for the project.

All partners will receive a certificate of partnership and be acknowledged in the Dunwood Park Centenary Website. All partners will be invited to the Centenary Celebrations and will be acknowledged in the Centenary Dedication. Where appropriate all partners will be offered a link to their own website from the Dunwood Park website.

Partners can include businesses, clubs, teams and even communities of bloggers such as the Holligans, who support this bid from all corners of the globe.

If we are successful we will see vastly improved facilities within the park for bowls and tennis and other recreational facilities. In addition there will be new drainage and restored paths, a new pavilion, toilets, community room/classroom, interest centre, cafe, improved parkland, better managed woodland pathways and access to all these features.

Please go to the Community Partnership contact form and take the opportunity to tell the Big Lottery that the people of Shaw and Crompton (and many others besides) support the bid to renovate Dunwood Park..