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VISIT TO CASTLE PARK WITH MEMBERS OF THE SCHOOL COUNCIL FROM BEACONSIDE SCHOOL24 JUNE 2016NOTESFiona Johnson and Jane Taylor were lucky enough to make a very enjoyable visit to Castle Park with the School Council from Beaconside – and this was a really interesting visit ... We walked all round the Park together – and we were both SO impressed by the children. They were engaged, interested, truly original, really thrilled by the whole experience – and were all, even the older children, very keen to make sure that there were things to do for the younger children, as well as for older ones. We were very grateful indeed to the children and their teachers for being so helpful and so informative. This is a brief summary of what the children told us – they were VERY clear about what they liked, and just as clear about what they didn’t like ...PADDLING POOL: all the children agreed that a paddling pool is a bit dull ... but they did like the idea of water play, at least in the summer. They thought various things like splash pads would be a good idea: is there any way to install those actually in the old paddling pool? They thought that water play would be good in the summer, but might it work to transform it for the winter into a skate area for small children – it’d be too dull for the older boys to take over. They liked the idea of turning the café round so parents can keep an eye on children (and stop older boys taking over the area) [but NB: it is probably a better idea to have any water play in the same area as the play area, so that parents can keep an eye on the whole thing]SPORTS AREA: the children were all in favour of having half the tennis-court area turned into something more welcoming to children. They thought it’d be a good idea to have equipment in place: mini-goals for football; a net for soft-ball; hoops for basket-ball etc, In other words, not just a spaceCRAZY GOLF AND PITCH-AND-PUTT: they liked the idea of both, but said that the problem was you could never get hold of the equipment ... Where do you get clubs etc.: any possibility of coin-operated lockers or something like that? They thought the pitch-and-putt in particular was badly presented – what was supposed to be the sequence of holes, and what were you supposed to do? They rather liked the crazy golf – but thought it could be made more fun – maybe have numbers and (fun) names for each obstacle, so you’d have a proper circuit? Would be good to have a few more holes with modern themes – but they quite liked the old obstacles, they just wanted them restored and painted. They are happy to pay, but think that it should be a fairly nominal sum – say 50p – for children. PLAY AREA: this was where we spent most of our time, as you’d expect. The children had the following suggestions (and some of these are almost cost-free, and could be designed/done by local craftsmen):They’d like an obstacle course – with eg a ladder, stepping stones, a bridge, tyres to crawl through, tube/pipe to crawl through, scrambling net, hamster wheelThey’d like a better, more imaginative climbing frame: the one they’ve got isn’t usedThey’d like a zip-wire – not one high of the ground, so smaller children would be OKThey’d like a duplicate jungle gym for small children (incidentally, they really liked the existing jungle gym, but NOT the wooden slide – splinters ...)They’d like a “giant cushion trampoline”They’d like to make more use of the trees – tree houses?They think there are too many trees – especially in our climate! And the trees and bushes can look a bit threateningThey rather liked the idea of the bandstand becoming a café- in which case the trees between the play area and the bandstand would need to be cut downENTERTAINMENT: all the children said that the park, and the Castle proper, needed to be more “lively”, to have more going on: they felt that at present it felt pretty dull. One boy produced an absolute torrent of good ideas, and the others joined in, as follows:Ideas for the Castle. They felt that we need to animate the Middle Ages. A good idea would be to have an event for children in the Castle, say every other Saturday am, and every Saturday in the (summer?) holidays. There would be special “learning hours/mornings”: armour, medieval games, medieval food/kitchens, archery, medieval clothes ... [Jane says mock up a quintain ...!] No reason why this can’t be put on for a small charge; get an outside expert in, to show children real armour etc. Bring the Middle Ages to life ... Use the Castle for children’s events – act out some of the Border ballads ...? Involve all schools in the areaThey’d also like to see re-enactments – patticularly for childrenIdeas for the park overallAgain, the children thought there needed to be things going on. Competitions? Challenges? How about a “Weekly Challenge” – sporting, or designed for outdoorsWould be nice to see the park encouraging different sorts of sports and activities for children, with introductory sessions: soft-ball? croquet [that was Jane’s idea]? walking on stilts? parkour? some elementary circus skills? Saturday mornings again ... Have more sporting things for children: fun walks, fun runs, races. Have park set up for timed runsPlay/sport leadersUse bandstand/solarium as picnic areaTalking statues ...?THE ROSE GARDEN: they thought it was VERY dull. Could it become a little garden especially for toddlers? Or maybe somewhere where events/entertainments could take place? SIGN-POSTING: they thought was very badly done. There’s nothing at the entrance to the park to say what there is there. And when you get into the park you can’t see what there is to do ... ................
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