You must live in Croftlands!
(Sadly you have to have access to the Internet to read this. Please alert the many people without this to it what is expressed below.
I shall be at Poppies, Union Street this next and all future Saturdays from 11 to 12 am to talk to anyone that cares to come.)
More tomorrow when I regale you with my adventure in the dark, discovering I still have a measure of agility to recover my balance after stepping on drives that weren't there ( but six inches further down) - people traps camouflaged as footpaths.
At least I avoided the quick witted dog that bit my finger last time round. Still have the blood blister under my nail to prove it.
That was Saturday evening.
Sunday morning was much better!
There are issues for the immediate here and now and others for the future.
The current topic is the provision of a Multiple Use Games Area from SLDC. This is great news, but has the provision of skateboarding equipment been included as promised by Richard Foster when I approached him last August?
I visited all the people whose houses border the playing field a couple of months ago.
Here are my impressions of what they said:
All except one person who held a view agreed that there is a pressing need for more facilities for youngsters in the Croftlands and that the vast majority of them respond very well to adult advice and are eager to fit in.
Any complaints about the MUGA should not be taken seriously. This facility promotes ball games and the only consideration was where it should go. People agreed that it should be somewhere central, but away from the equipment for young children. It should be highly visible and away from houses.
Objections to this do not stand up to reason. The playing field is an area for people to . . . PLAY.
Anyone living round the field accepted this when they bought their house.
No paid supervision is required. Residents can have a great influence on unruly behaviour and several residents have a lot of previous experience of doing this when they supported young people playing football. Some people are very good at whinging and complaining about young people but very few try actually talking them. (I have a similar experience as I live overlooking the new Health Centre where we regularly get young people playing in the car park after hours and at weekends. Yes we have minor trouble and yes the kids respond very well to be spoken to).
What is needed is a lot of use by responsible kids with the backing of their parents and the community as a whole. We must do the 'policing'.
However we need both the MUGA, which will encourage team activities, and the skateboarding pad to enable the enthusiasts, who are a great bunch of kids, to be able to get off the streets and into the park (No they can't use the MUGA - unsuitable surface). At the moment they are shunted around and complained about but not encouraged.
So yes to the MUGA but make sure that something for the skateboarders is included or else residents will feel ignored.
Simon Hughes and Richard Forster take note !
2 comments:
Don't understand how you've ended up out of the loop here regarding the skateboarders. The plans for a pro skateboarding facility at Lightburn park are well underway. I spoke to Tom the other day and he is very confident that work will begin very soon. WE can't build little bits all over the place Geoff the skaters want the real thing and it won't be long till it's here. You seemed so well informed with everything else I don't know how you've missed this.
You're right Colin, I do know about Lightburn but what Richard Foster has agreed is a possibility is a small Skateboarding patch at Croftlands to supplement the larger facility. Any responsible parent won't want a young child to go so far away from home, something on their doorstep is needed.
As a beginner one does not want anything too adventurous, smooth concrete with one or two concrete grind boxes of fairly low height. (Concrete is much quieter than wood and more permanent).
My aim is to have several of these low cost 'pads' at say five locations in Ulverston in addition to the main one at Lightburn.
There's a keen interest in this excellent sport in Ulverston. Lets feed it and give kids a place to do it other than shop fronts and back streets where they can be a nuisance!
It follows that if there's a strong argument for two MUGAs in Ulverston in addtion to football piches and tennis courts, then there's also one for at least two Skateboarding facilities one 'pro' and one beginner's.
Thanks for the well informed compliment, I appreciate it. I'm trying!
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