Dewsbury Park Mansion
Community Asset TransferCrow Nest Park and Mansion were bought for the benefit of the people of Dewsbury in 1893 by the Dewsbury Corporation. In October 2016, Kirklees Council made the decision to withdraw museum services from the former mill owners mansion, located at the heart of 72 acres of parkland.
Following the Cabinet decision, Jax supported the petition set up by the Friends of Crow Nest Park to keep the museum open. She wanted to actively support efforts, and on a sunny October morning she went to the park and found Jenifer, a member of the Friends group. They sat in the Glasshouse behind the mansion and cried at the prospect of this beautiful building being lost to the community via commercial sale.
This conversation sparked a huge community effort to work towards the Community Asset Transfer of the mansion as a Hub to promote local health and wellbeing, to bring our diverse communities together, to boost the local economy through creating employment opportunities, and to have a positive social impact on our town.
Our Expression of Interest was accepted by Kirklees Council in April 2017 and we became incorporated as a Charitable Community Benefit Society called Dewsbury Park Mansion Community Hub. Jax is a founder member and trustee and became Chair Person in Spring 2018. In August 2017 Kirklees Council informed us that our Business Plan was “on the whole good” and we are now working towards the completion of the asset transfer.
Jax works with an amazing team of volunteers, and her responsibilities include (but are in no way limited to):
- Chairperson of Dewsbury Park Mansion until June 2019
- Event planning and implementation
- Community Engagement
- Creating and maintaining a public facing dialogue via social media
- Website design and maintenance
- Blog posts
- Mailchimp Newsletter creation and maintenance
- Writing and distributing Press Releases
- Media representation (including interviews for BBC Radio Leeds, BBC Look North and the Victoria Derbyshire Show on BBC2)
- Researching and learning from other Community Asset Transfers
- Strategic Planning
- Liaising with Council Officers
- Interviewing and engaging professionals to work on the project
- Oversight of Finances and ensuring the Annual Return with Trustees Report is compiled and filed