Dunnikier Park Community Golf: Trustees' Report 2022

Dunnikier Park Community Golf Trustees’ Annual Report

Covering the Period:

6th August 2021 to 30th November 2022

24th February 2023

Email address: dpcomgolf@gmail.com

Website: https://www.dpcomgolf.com

Facebook: DPCG – Dunnikier Park Community Golf

Press Officer

Bruce Fegen Email: dpcomgolf@gmail.com

Chairman’s Introduction

The journey towards establishing a charity to encourage the local community to engage in sport (golf) as a way of promoting physical and mental health and wellbeing started back in 2019, with the construction of Fife Golf Trust’s 2019 course at Dunnikier Park.

The 6-hole, 500-yard course, with enlarged holes, was designed and built by Paul Murphy (now Fife Golf Trust’s CEO) and his team, in partnership with Dunnikier Park Golf Club, Scottish Golf, supported by £20,000 funding from Kirkcaldy Area Committee.

The 2019 course was initially earmarked as a golf development centre, for juniors and adults. However, the potential to expand its use as a community asset exploded when Ken Smith, one of our founding group, discovered the game of Park Golf, played on over 1,300 courses in Japan alone.

Covid significantly interrupted progress, however the time was well used doing the groundwork to establish the charity and to make plans for the construction of park golf clubs by the St Andrews Golf Company – the oldest hand-made club manufacturer in the world.

Dunnikier Park Community Golf achieved charitable status on 6th August 2021. The Park Golf project was supported by £10,650 funding from the Communities Mental Health and Wellbeing Fund through Fife Voluntary Action and the Scottish Government, in March 2022. That investment, along with smaller, but much appreciated, grants provided the finance to support a very successful first, 2022 season. Over 400 games of park golf were played by many members of the local community who otherwise would not be involved in sport of any kind. The feedback and the benefits to overall health has been amazing, as you will see in this report. Media interest certainly helped to get park golf more widely known. Such level of achievement would not have been possible without the engagement of the many community groups who are now regular visitors and our friends – together with the support of our partners Active Fife, Fife Golf Trust, Business Gateway Fife, my fellow Trustees, our group of committed volunteers, and Dunnikier Park Golf Club.

I thank you all.

Martin Christie, Chairman

Charity Trustees

1. Chairperson: Martin Christie. Retired, chartered accountant. Experienced in leading and managing business transformation and performance improvement.

2. Secretary: Raymond Johnston.

Chartered Quantity Surveyor and golf club secretary. Experienced in delivering complex work programmes and all areas of golf club management.

3. Treasurer: Richard Murdoch.

Head of Asset Management at a Registered Social Landlord. Experienced in managing budgets and leading teams to achieve strategic objectives.

4. Kenneth Smith (resigned 23rd October 2022)

Retired project manager and engineer.

5. Iain Evans (co-opted 27th September 2022)

Business Manager, Fife Golf Trust. Experienced in advising businesses, including golf clubs, on governance and business planning best practice.

Trustee Recruitment and Appointment

The concept and drive behind creating a charitable organisation (Dunnikier Park Community Golf) came from members of Dunnikier Park Golf Club. It was therefore fitting that the initial trustees of Dunnikier Park Community Golf drew on that experience. The membership of DPCG’s board will evolve over time. All Trustee positions are up for election each year at the Annual General Meeting. Board members can be appointed to the Board mid-year and the Board was delighted to co-opt Iain Evans to the Board on 27th September 2022.

Ken Smith resigned from the Board on 23rd October due to his plans to move south.

Our constitution allows Dunnikier Park Golf Club to appoint one of its Office Bearers to the Board of Dunnikier Park Community Golf. The constitution provides for up to 8 Trustees. On 30th November 2022, there were 4 Trustees.

Structure, Governance and Management

Dunnikier Park Community Golf’s governing document is its constitution, which sets out its purpose, structure and describes how it will operate. A copy can be accessed here

Our Objectives and Activities

Dunnikier Park Community Golf (DPCG) is a Scottish Charitable Incorporated Organisation (SCIO) registered by The Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator (OSCR) on 6th August 2021.

We are a non-profit distributing charity. Our charitable purposes are the advancement of public participation in sport and the advancement of health.

● To advance public participation in sport in Kirkcaldy and the surrounding area through the promotion, alone or in conjunction with others, of participation in golf and other sporting activities and acting as advisors in relation to the development of golf and other sporting activities.

● To advance health in Fife by the promotion, alone or in conjunction with others, of the benefits of physical activity and provision of assistance in relation to sports-related and healthy lifestyle matters.

To further these purposes, Dunnikier Park Community Golf seeks:

● To support citizenship, community development and community learning through the power of participation in Golf through working in partnership with members of and stakeholders in local communities and professional organisations, to empower individuals to improve their lives and their health and wellbeing. All programmes, projects and initiatives delivered by DPCG will contribute to four key outcomes and areas of focus:

● Raising self-esteem and confidence.

● Building a successful pathway to enjoyable participation in golf.

● Supporting healthier lifestyles, and

● Strengthening community engagement.

• To support, where appropriate, disadvantaged or underprivileged children, young people or adults to participate in community sport and community learning opportunities which foster and develop a community spirit.

• To do all such other things which further the objectives of DPCG and may be deemed to be charitable.

Making a Difference to the local Community

Since our inception, we have concentrated on attracting people from the local community into sport, as a means of strengthening and improving physical and mental health and wellbeing.

It was important to find a way to ‘break the mould’ – that would encourage people who wouldn’t normally play sport to have a go and start to benefit from playing.

We identified a simple, fun golf game played by hundreds of thousands of people in Japan – Park Golf – a game that only requires players using one (mallet-style) club and a ball.

In addition to Japan, where the game is regulated by The Nippon Park Golf Association, the game is played in countries such as the USA, Korea, Thailand, Brazil, Paraguay, Denmark and Sweden – and now Scotland!

Strengthening Physical and Mental Health & Wellbeing

We successfully applied for grant support from the Communities Mental Health & Wellbeing Fund through Fife Voluntary Action and Scottish Government. We were awarded £10,650, which helped launch Park Golf at Fife Golf Trust’s 2019 course in Dunnikier Park. Donations were also received, ranging from £250 to £500, including support from Arnold Clark, Aldi Sports Fund, two oil companies and Kingdom Housing.

We needed to create an identity for Park Golf in Kirkcaldy, and we chose a Scottish flavour acclaiming Dunnikier Park’s 2019 course as ‘the Hame of Park Gowf’.

Our next task was to open conversations with local community support groups –focusing on adults facing life challenges: social, financial, drugs, alcohol, physical and mental health.

Early adopters were Alzheimer Scotland and over the year we built up a wide, inclusive range of regular visitors having fun playing Park Gowf. Over 400 games were played by groups including Alzheimer Scotland, the Nourish Support Centre, the Salvation Army, Phoenix Futures, Sporting Memories, the Curnie Club, and the Walk and Talk Group from Raith Rovers Community Foundation. Feedback was amazing, with participants describing the experience as Brilliant (89%) or Very Good (11%).

Walk and Talk The Neeburs o’ Geordie Munro

Phoenix Futures The Curnie Club

The Rotary Club St Marie’s Primary School

Fife Invitational The Salvation Army

Freda (89 years) and Jim (91 years)

Some Common Themes from Park Gowf Feedback

Enjoyed the exercise and company. Great for relaxing.

Enjoyed the fresh air. Really improved mental stimulus.

Made me forget all my troubles.

Enjoyed the tea break after my round.

Love coming here. Can’t beat fresh air and golf. Great Company.

Being a non-golfer it was a fun way to have a shot of the game without it being too serious! Magic!

Brilliant! I didn’t think I could play it one-handed but I did well.

Very good activity for older people. Good fun.

Who would have thought we would be get the chance to play a new sport at our age!

Our Achievements

1. REGULAR PARTICIPANTS and VISITORS

● Repeat weekly/4-weekly visits from local support groups.

● Total footfall in year one exceeded 400 visits

● We hosted several visiting parties, including a Rovers’ fans’ group, Fife Chamber of Commerce, The Rotary Club, Raith Rovers Community Club 2010’s, and Active Fife.

● During Mental Health Awareness Week, we were visited by Neale Hanvey MP and Claire Baker MSP. We were delighted that Claire Baker raised a motion in the Scottish Parliament in June 2022 commending Dunnikier Park Community Golf on its work in supporting Mental Health Awareness Week.

● We hosted a Fife Golf Invitational event, which brought together businesses playing a Texas-scramble event on Dunnikier Park’s 18-hole course with a Park Golf event played by teams from local support organisations and St Marie’s RC Primary School – a truly inclusive golf event!

● Worked with Active Fife and NHS Fife, with support from Fife Golf Trust, to introduce Park Gowf – including the installation of golf holes/flags – to Auchtermairnie Care Home in Kennoway.

2. ACCREDITED VOLUNTEERS

● We built up a cohort of 10 volunteers to host visitors: These volunteers hold PVG, Safety in Golf and emergency First Aid accreditations.

3. COMMUNICATION and MARKETING INFORMATION

● We produced:

o A Park Gowf information leaflet (print off double-sided)

o A Park Gowf poster displayed outside St Andrews Golf Company’s shop to catch the attention of visitors to the 150th Open Championship.

o A website, with free support from Business Gateway http://www.dpcomgolf.com/

o A Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/ParkGowf/

● Today’s Golfer carried an article on Park Gowf in its August edition.

● Kingdom FM produced a Park Gowf podcast with our Chairman Kingdom FM article on Park Gowf

● Local papers – the Fife Free Press and The Courier, carried our stories.

Our Park Gowf Poster at St Andrews Golf Company’s Shop in St Andrews

Our Memberships

Memberships are an important way of establishing and demonstrating commitment to the values and objectives of national and other associations.

Dunnikier Park Community Golf is committed to introducing and growing community participation in Park Golf. We were therefore delighted to be accepted as an affiliated member of Nippon Park Golf Association – the games governing body.

Our affiliation allows us to use both Nippon Park Golf emblems.

Our commitment to promoting and supporting mental health is evidenced by us signing up to the mental health charter underpinning the Scottish Association for Mental Health for physical activity and sport.

As a voluntary charitable organisation we have joined the Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations. This provides additional valuable support, eg in relation to grant funding.

Dunnikier Park Community Golf’s success depends on maintaining close ties with other clubs and organisations in the local community. We aim to be an active participant in Kirkcaldy and Central Fife Sports Council.

Raising awareness of Park Golf is crucial to growing the sport in Scotland. Our membership of the Fife Tourism Partnership, including being listed in its business directory, opens the door to attracting tourists and others to have fun playing Park Golf.

Financial Review

The Trustees are pleased to report that the first set of accounts reflect a significant programme of activity fully funded from grants and other donations.

Our successful application to The Community Mental Health and Wellbeing Fund was pivotal in getting Park Golf up and running. The £10,650 grant through Fife Voluntary Action through Scottish Government supported the purchase of 50 park golf clubs, balls (which required to be purchased from Japan/China), other equipment, our insurances, marketing and advertising, and most importantly funding for the free cups of tea, coffee biscuits for everyone to socialise and enjoy after playing their round of park golf.

Abstract of Accounts

Our Policy on Reserves

The accounts show that the charity’s receipts exceeded expenditure by £2,655. This amount is carried forward to the following year in the form of a reserve. None of the reserve carried forward is ring-fenced for any specific purpose. However, the Board is keen to always maintain a minimal reserve of £2,000 to ensure at least one year of core operational costs (insurances and club replacement clubs/balls) and any unforeseen contingencies can be met.

Donated Facilities and Services

Dunnikier Park Community Golf is extremely grateful to Fife Golf Trust for courtesy use of its 2019 course and, when required, free buggy hire to assist disabled park golfers who otherwise could not take part.

Future Plans

Year one’s activity concentrated on engaging with local adult support groups to stimulate interest in getting their members involved in sporting activity, through playing Park Golf.

Next year, we plan to build on year one’s success, by growing the number of adult participants. We aim to introduce the opportunity for anyone to walk up and play Park Golf at the 2019 course, which will offer wider accessibility to all members of the local community. In addition, we will be engaging with local schools to encourage youngsters to discover the fun game of Park Golf.

Through our partnership with Active Fife we will be exploring the roll out of Park Golf to care homes in Fife, and perhaps sheltered housing accommodation, following the successful pilot at Auchtermairnie Care Home in Kennoway, in Autumn 2022. Looking like another busy year!

Declaration

Signed on behalf of the charity trustees:

Martin Christie Chairperson

24th February, 2023

Our Just Giving Page

We have a Just Giving page where donors can make a contribution to the running costs of providing Park Golf free to local support groups.

Most of the people we support would otherwise not participate in any sport. By joining in, they enjoy the fun and physical and mental health benefits of socialising and playing golf.

If you would like to make a donation, please use the link below. All donations are very gratefully appreciated.

https://www.justgiving.com/dpcomgolf

Dunnikier Park Community Golf is looking for up to four trustees to join its Board. Registered as a charity since 6th August 2021, our passion is to encourage members of the community, of all ages and abilities, to have fun playing golf and other sporting activities.

All our activities have four key outcomes:

● Raising self-esteem and confidence.

● Building a successful pathway to enjoyable participation in golf.

● Supporting healthier lifestyles, and

● Strengthening community engagement.

Our lead activity is Park Golf – a simple one club/one ball sport – which originated in Japan in 1983. Having brought the game to Scotland, we proactively engage with people who face life challenges – people who would not normally play sport – to uplift their confidence and sense of health and wellbeing by playing and socialising with others. Participants include clients from the Salvation Army, Alzheimer Scotland, Phoenix Futures, Sporting Memories, the Curnie Club, Walk and Talk, the Nourish Support Centre etc.

Our activities are concentrated around Fife Golf Trust’s Dunnikier Park 2019 course, in Kirkcaldy.

We have an ambitious expansion programme focussing growth on local schools and local support groups. We feel the charity would benefit immensely from strengthening and widening representation on the Board.

We have four Trustees and are looking to appoint up to an additional four Trustees to help build on the solid foundations created in our first year.

The role of a Trustee is to bring their own life skills and experience to help manage and support the charity in achieving its objectives. We meet every 2 months (most often virtually) and Trustees are expected to take away actions and deliver these for the benefit of the charity.

Further information is available from our website: https://www.dpcomgolf.com

If you are interested in taking on this life-changing and rewarding role, please get in touch. We will be happy to meet to explain the role of Trustee and discuss the work of the charity in more detail. Please email your interest to dpcomgolf@gmail.com

Have you got what it takes to make a real difference to the lives of others?