Commissioners Picture Gallery 2008

The top end of the commissioners' car park was used as an area for the depositing of Christmas trees. The photograph shows the scene at 9am on Monday 7th January with the mountain of trees deposited over the weekend.

The pile actually grew higher before shredding commenced mid morning.

Two of the parks staff commence work in feeding the trees into the commercial shredder which the commissioners purchased a couple of years ago. The shredding were fired straight into the pick up truck and taken to Centenary Park to act as mulch.

Work was interrupted in the Wednesday morning due to two mature trees having been blown down during the night in the Kaighin's Lane area.

APRIL 2008  GRASS CUTTING SEASON

In 1951 the Onchan Village Commissioners purchased a brand new Ferguson tractor to use as the workhorse in Onchan Park and to pull gang mowers for grass cutting on the stadium football pitch, the large grassed area top side of the stadium, the miniature golf course, the School Road Recreation Ground and on various unsold building plots around Onchan Park.

With the development of the Birch Hill Estate it was also used to cut the grass on the many open spaces that were created within the development.  All this grass cutting was carried out by the late Jimmy Crean who was also the greenkeeper, attending to the greens in the early morning then the grass cutting in the afternoon. 

Following his retirement and the addition of Heywood Park with its large areas of bush planting and small grassed areas together with the added responsibility for the open spaces in Lakeside Gardens, all grass cutting outside of Onchan Park and around the commissioners' offices were put out to contract.

With the start of the 2008-9 financial year grass cutting is again to be undertaken in-house.  These photographs show some of the brand new items that have been purchased to supplement the existing equipment to tackle the new task.

Pictured left to right is Colin Pennock the parks foreman, Matt Sayle and Michael Dunn, part of the commissioners' workforce.  The equipment includes a Kabota grass cutter which has an hydraulically operated grass box that can discharge the cuttings direct into the back of one of the pickup trucks to be taken for composting.

CIVIC SUNDAY 27th JULY

There was bright sunshine for Civic Sunday this year when the Board Chairman Derek Crellin JP and members of the commission invited the public of Onchan and other authorities to join them for divine service at St Peter's Church in the afternoon.

The event was held after the schools had closed for the summer holidays which had an effect on attendance by the youth groups who had also broken up for summer. At one time the Onchan Civic Sunday was on the first Sunday in December because the annual elections took place in November.

The parade lined up in the car park of the Youth and Community Centre in School Road and then proceeded on open roads to St Peter's Church.

Afterwards invited guests made their way to the Youth and Community Centre for light refreshments.

Onchan Silver Band line up ready to lead the parade as they have done so for many years.

The Onchan Entertainers join in the parade following the 2nd Onchan Scouts.

Chairmen and other local authority members walked in front of the Onchan District Commissioners. The Mayor of Douglas, Councillor Dot Pitts is fourth from the right in the hat.

In the background is the temporary skateboard park which the commissioners hired from Laxey Village Commissioners for a two week period.

On the right is the Board Chairman Mr Derek Crellin and beside him wearing the Vice-Chairman's chain is Brian Stowell.

Bringing up the rear, left to right, Kevin Groome Deputy Fire Chief, Inspector Helen Mason, George Waft MLC and Tim Craig Deputy Clerk.

The buffet which awaited the invited guests when they returned to the Youth and Community Centre following the service in St Peter's Church.

The Chairman reads his speech of thanks during the reception.

ESTATES GARDEN COMPETITION

The prize presentation for the Estates Gardens Competition took place in the boardroom at the commissioners' office on Friday 3rd October 2008. The competition takes place each year but nobody enters. Every domestic property owned by the commissioners is judged by two commissioners but not at the same time. This year one judged at the beginning of July and the other during August. Both sets of points are aggregated to arrive at the results.

This year there was a poor summer in terms of weather and gardens took a battering on several occasions. It is not surprising therefore that some gardens that were tip top in July were not so good in August but on the other hand there were those that literally rode out the storm.

In all there were five sections winners; The Park and Nursery Avenue, Ballachrink Estate, Birch Hill Estate, Heywood Park and Properties without gardens. There is also a cup for the commercial premises with the best floral display and the John Fargher Rose Bowl for the commissioners' property with the most points.

The results are kept secret until the presentation and even the commissioners are not made aware of the results. The prizes were presented by Chairman of the Board, Mr Derek Crellin and the results were read out by Mrs June Kelly, Lead Member for Properties and
Amenities.

Mr Murphy and son Aaron pick up the J.C. Skillicorn Cup and certificate for the best garden in The Park and Nursery Avenue section.

Unfortunately Mrs Murphy was unable to attend.
Last year Mrs Murphy's garden in Nursery Avenue received a Highly Commended certificate.

Mr Marsh of Springfield Court is congratulated by the Chairman of Onchan District Commissioners, Mr Derek Crellin whilst receiving first prize in the section for properties without gardens.

This includes Heywood Court, Marion Court and Springfield Court.

Pictured collecting the John Fargher Rose Bowl is Mrs Jean Alker of Ballachrink Drive. This is presented for the garden with most points from all the estates.

She also won the Universal Cup for the best garden in the Ballachrink Estate.