PAR was set up by a group of like minded men in Dyce early in 2008, who had recently attended the Mandate men`s conference in Belfast but were getting fed up of the decreasing lack of “Community Spirit” in the area.

We are a group in Dyce who come from all different backgrounds and lifestyles, age being no barrier, young and old. We formed an informal group to look at community issues and problems that we could apply our talents and skills to with a view to making life a little better for those living in Dyce.

Here we aim to give you a better insight into what we do and see our future plans as they develope, occur and as we reflect on them. We constantly encourage all visitors to this site to comment and give us feedback.

PAR stands for:
Ponder - The group will always fully consider any project or situation put before them to carry out a feasibility study and risk analysis to see if they can make a positive impact within the resources that they have available.

We are always open to suggestions big and small just contact us.

Action – The main objective of the group. Once a task or project has passed the Ponder stage a timescale is set and the project will be carried out.
As part of putting our glass clean up into to action we liased with Aberdeen City Council to organise the tools and supplies we needed for the day and the permissions required to carry out the clean up officially and safely.

Reflection – We feel it is very important to look back on a project or task to consider what could have been done better to learn for next time and also to agree if the Action had achieved the desired effect. For example below we have some notes from our August 27th meeting reflecting on the clean up.

Dyce Park Clean up August 16th:

What was Good….
More people involved than last clean up with more ladies helping out ( was it free BBQ that acted as hook..!!!) . Was great to see more helpers and many hands made light work as we seemed to get through clean up more swiftly than before .
There was a good banter between everyone involved and the team spirit was very evident.

The BBQ was FANTASTIC many thanks to those involved especially Ken and Morag Roach (Morag hot in the kitchen and Ken hot behind the BBQ ).
The Weather was good as it has been for all PAR events to date . Let us hope our good luck continues.

What was not so Good…..
Some of the council provided equipment was, how should we say, not in tip top condition and as Ken Knight and Ian Milne quickly showed , with bit of oil and initiative could be quickly fixed – Ken to advise Council on return of equipment to check out everything to see if in working order before putting out again.

Some felt for publicity given that even more people could have attended to help this community based event. It was also commented that the local Council could have given some more support – both on equipment i.e no black bags were provided this time and comments above on faulty equipment but also with personnel and publicity .When organizing next clean up to ask council for Litter Warden to be in attendance and publicity on Council Web site to encourage supporters.

Would we do it again……..
Yes, with success of both clean ups (total of 24/25 black bags collected over 2 events) everyone thought it would be good to keep a focus on the Central Park area but next clean up was agreed to target just glass in the area, which was very noticeable again at this clean up, with the date set as Saturday 8th November at 9am, this time using stiff brushes to clean walkways, play areas and new multi purpose sports area. Put this date in your diary.

If you would like to give us your feedback on anything you see here or suggest how we might help the people of Dyce better, please use our contact us page, we would love to hear from you.