Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Olivia Macdonald on April 1, 2011 at 9:10

As a grandparent who has to look after children, I would really like to see a new playground for toddlers in Finsbury Gardens.  The facilities at the moment are absolutely useless - one little piece of apparatus for toddlers, two swings for older children (which are not used) and a climbing frame for older children (which I've also never seen used).  The only people that use the playground are local people with toddlers, but the children are bored within 5 minutes as they need more facilities.  I don't understand why something was designed with such a strange combination of facilities.  It all looks very tatty and in fact doesn't appeal to anyone.

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Permalink Reply by John Mather on April 4, 2011 at 16:44

Outdoor Gym for Bowes Ward

 

The money allocated to Bowes Ward to spend in the fiscal year 2011/12 would be sufficient to establish and mantain an outdoor gym for the local community to use free of charge.

 

Cost and access to fitness facilities are causing people, especially children and teenagers, to drop out of physical activities altogether.  Many people, especially older residents, are also put off by the thought of going to gyms because the the gym environment is culturally alien to them. 

 

An outdoor gym would go some way to addressing both of these problems.  It would consist of a number of robust pieces of equipment that would be fixed into place.  An outdoor gym is an inclusive facility for residents of all generations and abilities to use.

 

An outdoor gym was built at Whittington Park, off Holloway Road, in 2009 and it has been a sucess.  Please see the following link for details:  http://www.tgogc.com/find-a-gym/whittington-park/

 

Perhaps the more gym-savvy members of the community could volunteer to show other residents how to use the equipment, although simple instructions would also be attached to each peice of equipment. 

 

In terms of potential locations for the outdoor gym, any modest space would be sufficient.  Ideally, we could use this as an opportunity to redevelop an existing space that is not working.  Suggested locations are invited.

 

Thanks for reading.  I would be grateful for any thoughts you may have.

 

John

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Permalink Reply by Richard McKeever on April 5, 2011 at 17:04

Olivia

I agree about the refurbishment/upgrade of the play equipment in Finsbury Gardens - however it is located outside of Bowes Ward and is I believe actually in LB Haringey. This would probably make it ineligible for funding under the Residents Priority Fund - even if it is providing benefit to Bowes Ward residents.

 

John

I think this is a great idea - I think the Holloway project is great and there are several other outdoor spaces across the UK and i entirely agree with your point about the cross generational appeal (including the Manchester "Pensioners Playground" set up a couple of years ago). Similarly to my comment to Olivia above I'm not sure we have any available green space in the Bowes Park part of Bowes Ward. You are right a small space is all that would be needed: the space opposite the Community Garden in Myddleton Road with the colourful mural on the gatesfor example - but there will, I am sure, be more appropriate sites east of Green Lanes for an outdoor Gym.

 

On a more general point, I think that any new money - which is very welcome - will almost automatically encourage thinking about new activities or facilities... One thing we might do is think about projects or facilities which are already in existence and see if they could do with a bit of support to scale-up, or even just to continue ... as other funding sources become scarce or are withdrawn.

 

Any other suggestions?

 

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Permalink Reply by Alan Sitkin on April 8, 2011 at 2:01

John, re: the outdoor gym idea, have you been up to see the new Myplace facilities at TAB Church on the top of Palmerston Road? It's not quite a gym but could become something good

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Permalink Reply by Richard McKeever on April 12, 2011 at 11:00

Both in this online discussion and in other conversations locally people have mentioned outside space as an issue - on further investigation it appears that the LB Enfield Parks and Open Spaces Strategy (PDF download see Pg 59) identifies Bowes Ward as falling short of targets for both distance from, and quantity of outdoor open space. Whilst there are several parks and smaller open spaces fairly close by the immediate area, particularly the west of the ward, has limited immediate access.

Clearly there is a limit to what can be done  in an already built-up area ... but it does appear to be a concern.

 

 

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Permalink Reply by Administrator on April 15, 2011 at 22:27

At an initial meeting at TAB centre on April 14th the three Bowes Ward councillors outlined the plans for the LB Enfield Residents' Priority Fund and shared a Guidance and Toolkit document giving more background.

Several ideas were proposed by representatives from local organisations, which are listed on the councillors blog, further meetings will be held to develop proposals for using this money to improve our local area.

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Permalink Reply by Richard McKeever on April 26, 2011 at 12:20

How about spending some of the first year's money on a bold statement piece of art marking out Bowes Ward.

 

 

I am thinking of something like the beautiful butterfly Mosaic in the Myddleton Road Community Garden which was designed by local artist Miranda Andrea and constructed at community workshop events. 

 

 

 

 

Over the weekend I visited the exhibition staged by Enfield ArtsProject ArtStart in an empty shop in Edmonton.

ArtStart are an Enfield based  charity who run community arts projects with schools, businesses and voluntary organisations - and were responsible for the terrific project which commemorated Enfield's Lost Treasures (Cinemas and Music Halls) through a series of marvelous mosaics at sites of former cinemas across the borough.

 

Wouldn't it be great to mark the start of the new fund by spending a small amount of money on something that was co-designed by local people and local artists, something that marks out our area as distinctive and can be a lasting source of pride and identity. The project could be brought to life through a series of community workshops...  A real life "place making" approach.

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Permalink Reply by Cathy Herman on April 26, 2011 at 16:00

There is a space opposite the Myddleton Road Community Garden-by New River- which would make a great community gym but that is in Haringey. Regarding the Enfield money, I think the little bridge area over the New River, by the shops at bottom of Whittington, could be so much better and is a small enough space to make a big impact. An arts and community project could do something special there and may well help to discourage rubbish dumping.

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