The suspense had been mounting. Six years after Friends of Mayow Park carried out our first online and face-to-face paper surveys on the children’s playground (started in 2017) , it looked like our dreams might actually happen.
2017 Summer: we started our survey designed to continue for months, no hurry, so we could reach more parents. Overwhelmingly, a new playground was the wish. Some of the equipment (swings in particular) had been there decades. The large wooden multi-climb frame had arrived in the late 1990s and we estimated most of the other equipment came from that time too. High time the kids got quality equipment. Necessary repairs to some equipment were ongoing.
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| repairing the popular see-saw |
What did parents want?
- Activities for toddlers including imaginative play, using sight, touch and sound
- Activities for those aged 5+ to play with friends
- Activities to challenge children up to the age of 11
- And activities should include balancing, climbing, swinging, pulling, sliding, sharing, twisting, jumping, a little bit of risk-taking, a sensory trail, team-work, a space to sit on the grass, seating for adults.
Clearly this was going to be an expensive ask. A group of parents came together to start the process but progress was so slow in those early stages that it seemed the project would flounder. One parent came forward willing to apply to big funders and made a start on applications. Quite impressive research went into applications and we had a quiet confidence of a successful outcome.
We were supported by Glendale, the firm that manages most of Lewisham’s parks. The Glendale managers wanted us to succeed, to be able to access funds. Lewisham’s parks department also gave advice and help.
But then came two years when everything stopped . . . and we all remember the effect that Covid 19 had on communities everywhere.
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