Cheltenham Art in the Park Imperial Gardens 2014

Let us welcome you to Art in the Park! It's smiles all round as committee members Debby Hooper, Christine Smith, Sue Birtwistle,

Frances Arrow, Martyn Dymott and Jo Hurlston celebrate the opening of the 2014 exhibition. (Image courtesy of Jane Ware)

Some complex, behind-the-scenes issues didn't prevent us from having another excellent year at Art in the Park in 2014. Changes in the way different parts of Imperial Gardens would be managed potentially placed our exhibition across two zones of control. However, I'm happy to report that the Council and the Town Hall were both keen to ensure that the Exhibition would continue in years to come, and found a neat solution to the problem, which we're very grateful for!

Further difficulties emerged to do with parking around Imperial Gardens in the evening. Unbeknownst to us, it became apparent that the metered parking area running alongside the park on The Promenade becomes a taxi rank at 8pm, and any cars caught parked in that zone are liable for parking fines. Unfortunately, couple of our exhibitors were caught out by this, as they stopped by the park to pick up their paintings at 8pm. Appeals were not upheld, and we were forced to consider the Exhibition's opening times as a result. For the rest of the exhibition, we finished at 7.45, and for clarity we shall close at 7.30pm in 2015, with regret. Many visitors to Cheltenham who like to take a stroll to the exhibition in the evening will find us long gone, I'm sorry to say! Nevertheless, given the difficulties with the parking restrictions from 8pm onwards, we could really see little choice but to change our evening hours.

During the actual event, we were pleased to welcome the Mayor of Cheltenham, Simon Wheeler and his wife Sandra to the Imperial Gardens to open 'Art in the Park'. Beautiful weather accompanied our well-attended opening ceremony, and the Echo sent out a photographer to cover the event. Various committee members can be seen in the photo accompanying the Mayor and his wife; Christine Smith, Frances Browne, Jane Ware, Andy Lloyd and Frances Arrow. Our thanks to artist Caroline Mann for providing Cheltenham Art with these photographs.

Art in the Park Committee members (Mike, Debby. Franny, Christine. Martyn, Sue, Jane, Fran, Jo and Andy) and family members enjoy a get-together

In 2014, Debby Hooper created a Facebook page for 'Art in the Park', to keep up with the latest news, paintings and features: www.facebook.com/cheltenhamartinthepark . Please drop by to 'like' us, and drop us a message! Our thanks go to our sponsors, Midwinters Solicitors, for their continuing support in 2014. Thanks also to Radio Gloucestershire and The Gloucestershire Echo for mentioning us on air and on-line.