Park voice…..

• I sauntered around George V and Carlton Hill Recs looking for benches – quite a few – and toilets – none.
• It was lovely to see the parks being used by young and old.
• And I got talking to a wonderful Childminder who looks after kids with special needs – she takes them to Carlton Hill Rec before school so they can run around and be free and then the same after school – they make dens, play with her gorgeous dog and just generally be kids, outside, having fun and also learning how to assess risks, take responsibility etc. But because she’s there every day she also sees the other park users and was telling me about the older residents who come out and do circuits by the Covid memorial woodland area, how they use the benches to sit down and have a breather, how they could do with one more at the bottom of a slope to gird their loins before going up it. She was talking about how much they really like this, getting exercise, meeting other people, chatting. She said it’s really friendly up there with everyone talking to everyone else and I must say I found it like that today.
• I took photos of the benches, the memorial woodland and leaf information signs, and the location of where there ought to be an additional bench.