Birmingham Open Spaces Forum

Trafalgar Pocket Park Project - Annual Report 2007

healthy play and creative leisure activities for children and young people

Trafalgar Pocket Park Project aims

• To improve leisure facilities for children and young people in the Trafalgar road area
• To develop our pocket park as a community asset
• To create and support inclusive sports, arts and leisure facilities

We would like Trafalgar Pocket Park to be a place where children with specific needs, as well as other children and families can enjoy being outside.

Children’s activities

Local children from the Trafalgar road area have taken part in a variety of play opportunities organised by Trafalgar Pocket Park Project over the past year. The numbers of children have varied between 20 and 30 each day, depending on the weather, and our star tent has provided us with shelter from the rain during occasional showers. The star tent has also been a focus for activities as well as attracting passers by.

Easter activity week

At Easter we held a week of free play and creative activities for children, which included a circus skills workshop, a percussion workshop, trampolining and working with a willow artist making a willow den, as well as swords, crowns and dragonflies. We put up a large star tent, where we based most of the daily art and craft activities, such as clay work, collage and painting. Outside we had skipping, space hopper races, hula hoops and football.

Summer play day

At the end of July we had a play day, with a bouncy castle, face painting and circus skills and a drumming workshop.

It was a little bit wet that day!!!!!

Summer play sessions with Uffculme School

We ran play activities for the last week in August, together with Uffculme School, with the aim of providing inclusive outdoor play opportunities for local children and children with specific needs.

We put up a large star tent, where we based most of the daily art and craft activities, such as clay work, collage and painting. Outside, we had large scale painting on fabric, making banners to hang from the trees. We also had den building, with bamboo poles and lengths of shiny fabric. There was water play with lots of large water pistols and water fights became one of the most popular activities. There was a volleyball net, which, as well as for volleyball, was used for tennis, badminton, and limbo competitions. Skipping ropes and space hoppers were used for races round the park. Each day we put up two small dome tents, one was for playing with lights, with torches and various sparkly things, the other had a fur blanket on the floor, with soft cushions for children to have a quiet time and relax if they wanted.

A Forest school leader ran Woodland activity workshops each morning, during which the children, made pictures from natural objects with a frame of twigs; made bird feeders; made bark rubbings; took part in a treasure hunt and explored the woodland area in the park. These workshops were very popular with the children.

A story telling and drumming workshop was a hit with the children, and many of the parents joined in too. The workshop leader brought lots of large African drums and varied between storytelling with drumming, to group drumming, depending on the group of children he was working with.

There was a football coach each afternoon, who worked on football skills, as well as organising fairly informal games of football with the children.

A drama, dance and music workshop focused mostly on dance and music, as that was what seemed to work best in the environment we were in. The workshop leader used music and rhythm with great success to engage with a child with severe disabilities.

The circus skills workshop leader brought uni-cycles, diabolos, juggling balls, stilts, hoops and peddle-gos. He encouraged children to have a go, and supported them in trying out new things.

Consultation

In February Dens of Equality funded a week of consultation with local children carried out by Play Train. This involved creative and play activities, during which children’s thoughts and ideas were gathered about what they wanted in Trafalgar Pocket Park.

We have leafleted all the houses and flats around Trafalgar road, and given out flyers through Park Hill, St Martin de Porres and Tindal schools, explaining what Trafalgar pocket Park Project is about, and inviting people to play events and monthly meetings.

During each of our play sessions, we asked children and families who attended what they would like to see happening in the park. The overwhelming response was that the park needs to be cleared of dog mess, so that people are able to safely use it, that we need rubbish bins and some benches, so that people can sit and chat and watch their children play.

Children told us that they would like more challenging play equipment and somewhere to play football, as well as regular play events on Saturdays and in the school holidays.

There was a big demand for social events that would bring the community together to be held, such as summer fetes, music events and barbeques.

People told us that they would like to have a noticeboard at the park, so that events and meetings could be advertised, allowing more people to become involved.

A need was identified for a fence across the front of the park, so that children with specific needs (in particular autistic spectrum disorders) can be kept safe while enjoying the park.

Local people would like a path around the park that could be used by people with pushchairs, wheelchairs and children’s bikes, as well as providing a focus for dog walkers, so that they could more easily prevent their dogs from fouling the grass areas.

Physical improvements

In response to the consultation and with the support of our parks manager and Birmingham City Council, several improvements have now been made to the park.

One of the mounds has been lowered, creating a flatter area for ball games to take place.

We have a new notice board, so that community events can be advertised to all local residents.

Some benches have been recently installed, so that people are able to sit and talk or watch their children play.

The installation of rubbish bins and dog bins means that the park can be kept clean, so that it is more safe and inviting for the whole community to use.

Our vision for the future of Trafalgar Pocket Park

Throughout the year we have held monthly open meetings and we recently took part in a visioning session, to arrive at our shared vision for Trafalgar pocket park. We asked ourselves ‘What do we want Trafalgar Pocket Park to look and feel like in three years' time?’

1. Hosting entertainment, play and sports events for all ages
2. Having attractive, coordinated and useful park furniture and play pod ( a recycled, all weather steel shipping container to house portable play equipment and tents)
3. Safer, due to attractive and locally commissioned boundary fencing, gates and lighting Benefiting from exciting and challenging inclusive adventure playground
4. Boasting flourishing wildlife area, maintained by local group
5. A welcoming, safe, clean and relaxed place, loved and used by the whole community

This vision of the local community for the park will therefore be used in future meetings to shape our plans and measure our progress. We will endeavour to contribute in any way we can to the achievement of this vision.

Summary of accounts

Total income: £13,180.00

Total expenditure: £12,172.92

Once all promised income received and all pending payments made, balance will be £1,007.08

Trafalgar Pocket Park, Trafalgar road, Moseley. For more information contact Isabella Day on 07766 867 424 or by e-mail.