Dunnikier Park Development

Vice-president Mark Rositer welcomed visitors from the Stirling Club who joined us on Tuesday and reciprocated their good wishes. He also ran through a list of Club activities between now and Christmas which required members' support. The club also extended sympathy to a member who was recovering from a detached retina. Mark then introduced our guest speaker,Sue Bennett, Director of Dunnikier Country Park Development. Sue explained that the current house was not the original home of the Oswalds, that being the house at the top of the Path now housing a medical practice, but one newly built by John Oswald in 1793.  The park in front of the house was mined for coal for some years but also hosted a horserace (the claret jug is now held in Kirkcaldy Galleries) and in1856 saw the foundation of Scotland's oldest cricket club. These days very little land is attached to the hotel and the rest is Council property. In 2012 a meeting was called to discuss what improvements could be made.to the current amenity. There is much more land in the park than is generally realised and a walk on the path through the woodland adjoining the golf course is recommended. It was decided to emphasise more the nature of the park by renaming it Dunnikier Country Park. With help from Greener Kirkcaldy and bulb planters from local schools a wetland area has been established and in the next few years an area of fruit trees and bushes should literally come to fruit. A Peace Garden is planned and a play area for family time is an idea which will depend on the availability of finance of well over £100,000. Very successful County Fairs were held in May 2013 and in 2015 but neither was blessed by good weather. Apart from finance the Development Group is short of members and new applicants would be most welcome.  Rotarian Alice Soper gave the Vote of Thanks and congratulated Sue on the fact that Dunnikier Country Park had become the third Kirkcaldy Park to receive a Green Flag for environmental achievement.