Some of us grew up with parents who asked us to water the plants now and then.
Or maybe it was your job to put the bins out for collection on a Thursday morning.
For Nicholas Boyle, whose mum Irene Shearer founded community group Friends of Baxter Park in 2003, things were a little bit different.
At just 10 years old he was tasked with leafleting, collecting donations and handing out raffle prizes at fundraisers in the Stobswell green space.
“I was too young to be left alone at home!” he says.
Fast forward 20 years and not much has changed, except that he is considered an “official” committee member now.
He’s also allowed to be at home alone (he moved out some years ago).
Why was Friends of Baxter Park created?
Nicholas, now 31, must have been the youngest committee member by far in those days?
I am sitting with him and Irene, 62, in Blend – the pop-up coffee shop in Baxter Park Pavilion.
“Oh I am still the youngest member by far,” he laughs.
Six people sit on the Friends of Baxter Park committee, which chairperson Irene set up to preserve the gardens and host community events in the pavilion and park.
It came off the back of a £3.6m grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund to restore Baxter Park – which had become run down – at the turn of the millennium.
Since its inception, the mother and son duo, along with the rest of the group, have achieved much to be proud of.
I see it for myself when we take a walk through the park.
We stop at the Woodland Glade, a fairy tale-like meadow, where Nicholas, a gardener with Dundee City Council, points to a plaque.
It shows a picture of him. “There’s 16-year-old me, planting some bulbs.”
More than 4,000 woodland bulbs were planted by Friends of Baxter Park in 2008, with help from local primary school pupils and beaver scouts.
Six-figure multi use games area among Friends of Baxter Park’s achievements
We then pass by the multi use games area, situated near the tennis courts, which was funded by a six-figure lottery grant which Irene applied for in 2013.
The area for basketball, hockey and football is used by local community groups and school children.
We then arrive at the Spring Grove – a vibrant green wildlife area complete with a stream and nesting birds.
Irene, a teacher at Clepington Primary School, considers it a jewel in the park’s crown.
“It is the only wildlife area we have in the park, because the rest of it is cut grass,” she explains.
“When Friends of Baxter Park first started, the council said they couldn’t afford to maintain it anymore.
“They wanted to cut it all down.
“So I said Friends of Baxter Park would maintain it.
“‘You are digging that up over my dead body’, I told them.
“And here we are, 20 years later, still maintaining it.”
What are the main aims of Friends of Baxter Park?
Nicholas, who is also a volunteer horticulturist for the community group, says: “If we didn’t do it then it would be taken away.
“It’s about maintaining what we have so people can continue to enjoy it.”
Friends of Baxter Park – which is funded by the St Catherine’s Trust in St Andrews as well as its own fundraising events – has three main goals.
“Our aims are to get people in the park, to get them to stay longer, and to teach them about the history of the park,” Irene says.
Baxter Park was opened in 1863 and is the only surviving complete park designed by renowned gardener and architect Sir Joseph Paxton in Scotland.
It was donated to the people of Dundee by Sir David Baxter and his two sisters Mary Ann and Eleanor.
And it has been a godsend for families in the area over the years – Irene’s included.
During our interview, I glean she practically raised her son in the park.
As a young single mum, she would take Nicholas – “an extremely active child” – to the green space every single day to let him run around and burn off energy.
During the school holidays these visits increased to three times a day.
The pair lived in a tenement flat overlooking the park – where Irene still is today – “so it has always been just next door”.
‘I don’t want this green space to be lost’
All this may go a long way to explaining why Irene is so passionate about protecting Baxter Park.
But when I ask what inspired her to create the group I learn there is more to the story.
“I grew up on a poultry farm near Leven with big wide open fields around me and big trees,” she says.
“And I just don’t want this green space to be lost.
“It was created for the people of Dundee by the Baxter family.
“And I am one of the people of Dundee therefore it is my park.
“I want everybody who comes here to say ‘This is my park'”.
What is next for Friends of Baxter Park?
So, what is next for Friends of Baxter Park?
Irene says:Â “I would love a long term solution to public toilets in the park.
“There is so much more we could do with this park if we had toilets.
“I’m also very keen to open the stone pavilion for 25 days a year to let the local community see inside it, because a lot of people don’t get the chance.
“You only get a chance if you are at an event of if you have hired it for a wedding.”
Irene and Nicholas are also in the midst of organising their annual bat night which will take place in September.
The popular event sees families enjoy a bat talk followed by a walk in the park with a bat detector.
‘The police showed up at our last event’
Irene hopes there won’t be a repeat of last time.
“More than 60 people turned up at our last bat night,” she says.
“We divided them up into two groups of 30 and gave them a bat meter each.
“But somebody near the park called the police to say there was gangs of people wandering around the park.
“So then the police arrived and I had to explain to an officer with a notepad, ‘Sorry… we are just having a bat night’.
“I promised I would warn them before the next one.”
Conversation