Putting the Orchard back into Orchard Park

HULL

A friendly and familiar face to the residents of Orchard Park Estate in Hull, Neighbourhood Policing PSCO Dawn Brown is no stranger to solving problems in the heart of the community.

Over the course of the last 12 months, following the launch of the ‘Impact; The Left Behind’ working with residents, local schools and partnering agencies Dawn has successfully helped to change the lives of young people.

As a part of Neighbourhood Policing Week of Action, Dawn said: “Since March last year, one of my main focuses, along with partners has been to look at how we can improve the facilities available on Orchard Park for young people and give them something that will make a real positive change in community.

“I spent a lot of time engaging with the community to understand what resources we had available on our doorstep and how this could help to divert young people away from crime.

“Having been subject to anti-social behaviour in the past, people will know Dane Park fishing pond relatively well. Through some real team effort, the area has undergone a huge transformation since ‘Oppy Wood Fishing Lake’ was established.  

“Launched by a local resident, Karen Morfitt, to get the project to where it is today, it was important I played by part in seeking donations and funding for a container to ensure once equipment was sourced, that residents had a storage facility but also for refreshments.

“Within the space of four weeks, we’d managed to source a storage container which was kindly donated by Andrew Lunn at Century Containers and through a community social media appeal, some fishing equipment from local residents.

“The project has now been successfully running for four months with around 50 children of different ages enjoying the facilities of Oppy Wood and successfully diverted away from criminality.”

Keeping herself busy, Dawn didn’t stop there as she began exploring other spaces that could be utilised in the area and quickly identified some land which was the perfect opportunity to expand upon a large disused allotment.

Dawn said: “Working with Sirius Academy North, I spoke with Hull City Council about providing pupils an opportunity to learn life skills outside of the classroom.

“Justine Mortimer and the team from the council were fantastic and facilitated the clearance of the disused site to give the students clear ground with guidance from John Pickles EMS Ltd to help divide the area into planting zones for ‘Hope allotments’.

“It was amazing to see the children flourish and that’s when we decided we couldn’t stop there and with help from Danny at ‘Volunteer it Yourself’ providing three weeks of teaching, the kids achieved an additional qualification.

“Because of the great enthusiasm and teamwork put into the project we now have a classroom based at the allotments, which was kindly donated by KeepMoat along with equipment that has been donated from Cargill’s.”

The project continued to go from strength to strength and the appetite to be a part of the ‘Hope allotments’ grew. With help from the High Sheriff, Mark Caley, a local resident kindly donated 13 apple trees.

The trees have since been planted as a part of a memorial with students from Sirius Academy given the opportunity to apply to have a tree planted in their loved one’s memory.

Dawn added: “These projects have been a wholehearted team effort, which, without the local community members like Karen Morfitt, the team at Friends of Oppy Wood, the help of all the local businesses, and Hull City Council would have never been possible.

“It’s the people in the community that I’d like to thank, as what they are doing, is helping steer children away from crime whilst helping Orchard Park continue to flourish.”

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