Friends of Verdin Park
Chair’s Report
Inaugural Annual General Meeting — 4 July 2026
Welcome to the first Annual General Meeting of Friends of Verdin Park.
Standing here today is quite surreal.
Less than a year ago, none of us knew each other particularly well. There was no committee, no constitution, no website, no bank account, no campaign fund, and certainly no AGM.
There was simply a group of local residents who had heard that part of Verdin Park might become an extension to the hospital car park.
Like many people, our first reaction was probably the same: “Surely that can’t be right.”
Then came the second question: “If nobody else is going to do something about it… perhaps we should.”
That simple thought has brought us here today.
What happened next
What happened next took us all by surprise. One person suggested starting a WhatsApp group. Another suggested a petition. Somebody else offered to organise fundraising. Others began digging into planning documents, researching the history of the park, reading legal papers, and asking awkward questions through Freedom of Information requests.
People simply started doing what they were good at.
- Some delivered leaflets.
- Some spoke to neighbours.
- Some attended council meetings.
- Some spoke to journalists.
- And some quietly encouraged everyone else whenever spirits dipped.
Nobody was asked to do any of it. People simply stepped forward.
Community support
One of the biggest surprises has been the support from the wider community. Our petition has now attracted more than 1,800 signatures. That represents 1,800 people saying that Verdin Park matters. Our GoFundMe has raised £724, allowing us to pay for campaign materials, legal advice, and information requests that otherwise wouldn’t have been possible.
Those aren’t just numbers. They’re a measure of the trust that local people have placed in this campaign.
We’ve also taken the campaign far beyond social media. We’ve delivered hundreds of leaflets across Castle and Winnington, attended the consultation event, and spoken directly to residents in the park. Our efforts have appeared in the Northwich Guardian, on Radio Northwich, in Private Eye, and even on the BBC.
Our approach
Perhaps most importantly, we’ve worked hard to ensure that our campaign is built on evidence rather than rhetoric. We have researched the Verdin covenant, examined past planning applications, and submitted formal Freedom of Information requests. We’ve challenged decisions where we believed they deserved to be challenged, while remaining respectful of the people making them. We have simply demanded that our elected representatives act in accordance with the standards of openness and accountability we rightly expect of those who represent us.
That approach has earned Friends of Verdin Park a reputation for being informed, constructive, and credible. By keeping our campaign factual and constructive, we have made it impossible for decision-makers to dismiss what we have been saying.
A shift in the conversation
But something else happened that none of us expected. At some point, the conversation changed.
The WhatsApp group stopped being entirely about stopping a car park and started becoming about the future of Verdin Park itself. Ideas started appearing almost daily:
- Community litter picks
- Tai Chi in the park
- Planters and orchards
- Nature and bat walks
- History boards and community events
- Getting children and families into the park
The conversation shifted from “How do we stop losing something?” to “How do we make something wonderful even better?”
For me, that was the moment Friends of Verdin Park really came into existence.
Campaigns eventually end. Communities don’t.
Looking ahead
That’s why today is so important. Today, we’re creating an organisation that we hope will still be here in ten, twenty, or fifty years’ time, looking after this remarkable place for future generations.
We’ve already laid the foundations. We now have a formal constitution and a community bank account. We’ve launched our website, giving the park and the campaign a permanent online home, and we’ve begun building relationships with organisations right across the town. We’ve become something much bigger than the small WhatsApp group where all of this started.
Thank you
I’d like to thank everyone who has helped make that happen.
Thank you to those who delivered leaflets in the rain.
Those who patiently read planning documents so the rest of us didn’t have to.
Those who spoke to councillors and MPs.
Those who worked with journalists.
Those who made donations.
Those who suggested new ideas for improving the park.
And those who simply turned up, week after week, because they cared.
Every single contribution has mattered.
Finally, I’d like to thank one group of people we sometimes forget to acknowledge—the residents of Northwich. Without their support, there would be no campaign.
Every signature, every donation, every conversation in the park, and every message of encouragement reminds us that Verdin Park means something to thousands of people, not just to those sitting in this room. Whatever happens over the coming months, I think we’ve already achieved something worth celebrating. We’ve shown that ordinary people can come together, organise themselves, ask difficult questions respectfully, and make their voices heard.
Over 130 years ago, Robert Verdin gave this park to the people of Northwich. Today, I think it’s fair to say that the people of Northwich have shown just how much that gift still means.
Thank you all for everything you’ve done over the past year.
This is our first AGM. I hope, many years from now, people will look back on today as the moment Friends of Verdin Park became a permanent part of our town.