The Bradley Stoke Journal

Residents of Bradley Stoke and beyond are being asked for their views on the town’s Jubilee Green play park, adjacent to the Jubilee Centre in Savages Wood Road.

The park was officially opened in July 2009 following two months of construction funded by the Big Lottery Fund, South Gloucestershire Council and Bradley Stoke Town Council.

The Friends of Jubilee Green, a group of volunteers set up to improve and promote the play park and community space, are asking users to complete a survey to provide feedback and help prioritise new projects.

Two issues that have already caused concern, according to information on the Friends’ website, are car parking and the use of toilets at the nearby Jubilee Centre.

Visitors to the park are warned that cars parked in the Jubilee Centre car park are liable to get locked in should the centre close while they are visiting the park.

With no public toilet facilities at the site, park users are advised to walk to the town’s Willow Brook shopping centre. This is because the Town Council does not allow members of the public to use toilets within the Jubilee Centre when any of its rooms are in use by hirers.

Completed survey forms [MS Word] must be returned by Friday 13th November.

The Friends of Jubilee Green group have announced that Bradley Stoke’s new adventure play park at Savages Wood Road is now fully open.

The park had been temporarily closed for a few days after the official opening on Friday 24th July “to allow completion of the site”.

Information on the Friends website says:

“Following the incredibly popular opening of the park we are sure many people were disappointed when the park had to be temporarily closed to allow the safe installation of the last few pieces of equipment. The opening on the 24th July went ahead as it would have been an impossible task to publicise a last minute postponement of the opening and move the companies and groups that had generously provided their time, crafts and refreshments for free.”

Spokesperson Michelle Dent has now told The Journal:

“The contractors have now installed the nest swing and climbing frame. They’ve cleared the site of all their equipment and sewn grass seed on the bare mud on Jubilee Green.”

Michelle adds that the Friends will be holding ‘Fun in the sun’ play sessions in Jubilee Green Park on Saturday 15th August and Sunday 23rd August (12-2pm):

We will be bringing all the toys kindly donated by Tesco Express Winterbourne including: buckets, spades, footballs, skipping ropes, cricket and badminton sets as well as a play parachute donated by Bradley Stoke Matters. All we need is the sun! Naturally if it is raining we will not be running the sessions. Keep an eye on our website for cancellation notices and future dates. There will be no toilet or refreshments available so bring a picnic.

Bradley Stoke Town Council (BSTC) has issued a statement confirming that the recently-opened play park on Jubilee Green has been temporarily closed “to allow completion of the site”.

The move confirms a comment left by a reader on this website yesterday (Monday 27th July), which claimed that the park had already been closed just days after the grand opening last  Friday (24th July).

That reader expressed disappointment and questioned whether the park should have been opened at all if it was not finished.

Other readers have left comments claiming that the mud and turf at the park “is a mess” and that it still “looks like a building site”.

Before construction of the park started in May, the Town Council said that a period of about three weeks would elapse between completion of the project and opening to public, allowing “turf on the site to establish”. However, construction delays combined with a reluctance to move the announced opening date meant that workers were still clearing away equipment and fencing just minutes before the Mayor cut the ribbon to officially open the facility.

Today’s statement from BSTC says:

The Town Council is very pleased with the large turnout on the day and positive feedback received so far and it is hoped that the site will be completed and reopened in time for the weekend.

We apologise for any inconvenience this may cause and hope everyone will agree it’s worth it in the end.

Anyone interested in helping shape future development of the green should contact the Friends Group for details of how to get involved.

Scores of families and children turned out this afternoon to see Mayor Mark Forsyth officially open the new Jubilee Green Park at Savages Wood Road, Bradley Stoke.

The adventure playground has been under construction since May and there was doubt that it could be completed in time for today’s grand opening.

Workmen were still clearing away equipment and fencing just minutes before the opening, but everything was tidied away in time for the Mayor to cut the ribbon just after the scheduled time of 4:30pm.

A stream of excited children then rushed into the play park to explore the various slides, exercise stations and sand pits that make up the new facility.

The Mayor paid tribute to the people involved in designing and promoting the park, including Alison Brown of South Gloucestershire Council, Winsome Barrett-Muir of Southern Brooks Community Partnership and Michelle Dent of the Friends of Jubilee Green.

Visitors were treated to free drinks generously supplied by the Aztec Hotel & Spa and free cakes generously supplied by Tesco Express.

Lots more photos of the opening day: album; slideshow (PicasaWeb)

Bradley Stoke’s new £160,000 play park on Jubilee Green, Savages Wood Road, is to be officially opened this Friday (24th July).

The park has been designed for people of all ages to enjoy and will incorporate slides, a nest swing, rowing and cycling machines, a climbing frame, a sand pit and (eventually) a youth space and shelter.

The project was awarded a grant of £55,000 from the Big Lottery Fund in December 2007, with the remainder of the money coming from South Gloucestershire Council (SGC) and Bradley Stoke Town Council (BSTC).

The Journal has however recently learned that the original funding does not cover construction of the youth space and that a further grant will have to be sought in order to complete this aspect of the project.

Construction of the park began in the last week of May and contractors have been working overtime to get the project completed in time for the opening day.

Once completed, the park will be maintained by SGC for the first twelve months after which responsibility will pass to BSTC.

Southern Brooks Community Partnership (SBCP) has helped set up a ‘Friends of Jubilee Green’ group for people interested in supporting the play park project. The group will plan events, promote the park, provide feedback, help with fundraising and gather and share information about the park.

Winsome Barrett-Muir of SBCP told The Journal:

“Southern Brooks have been involved in the consultation and in recruiting residents to form a Friends group, the aim of which is to promote the park and work with the town council in its upkeep and management. By actively involving local residents, Southern Brooks hope that incidents of antisocial behaviour that may result in damage to the new equipment and disturbance of local residents near the park will be reduced. The newly formed Friends of Jubilee Green group have taken the lead and are organising some activities to go along with the opening event.”

Michelle Dent of the Friends of Jubilee Green group added:

“The grand opening is an event that will celebrate the hard work from Bradley Stoke Town Council, the designer and the amazing amount of fund-raising that has taken place. We feel it is an exciting design that we hope will encourage the whole community to use the space and bring people of all ages together.”

“The friends group will be involved in running future events and there are plans under way for a bulb/wild flower planting in September/October our website will be updated with all forthcoming events.”

The friends say they are looking to recruit more energetic, passionate people to join their group. They are keen to have representatives from all aspects of the community and are especially looking for teenagers to join their committee, where they will be able to help with the future development of the park and fund raising.

The opening of the park will be celebrated with community activities between 4pm and 6pm. Further details are expected to be available on the Friends of Jubilee Green website later this week. Chainsaw artist Peter Leadbeater will be carving railway sleepers to form bollards for the park; he will also be running a competition for people to guess how long it will take to carve one, the prize being a carved wooden mushroom.

Bradley Stoke Mayor Mark Forsyth will ceremonially open the park at 4:30pm.

Latest plans of the play park (on the BSTC website):

• Jubilee Green Detail Layout [PDF, 100KB]
• Jubilee Green Drawing [PDF, 2.65MB]

See also: Latest photos of the play park(on PicasaWeb).

Contractors working on the new Beacon Play Park on Jubilee Green are racing to complete the project in time for a grand opening on 24th July.

Work on the new facility began in May following a series of delays which saw the cost of the project rise by 45% to around £160k.

Bradley Stoke Town Council (BSTC) previously said the work would take five to six weeks but the park is still far from finished more than seven weeks after diggers moved onto the site on 27th May.

The original timescale announced by the Council allowed a period of about four weeks for “turf on the site to establish” before the play park was opened to the public.

Despite the delays, Bradley Stoke Matters reports that the grand opening will go ahead on Friday 24th July, between 4pm and 6pm.

Latest plans of the play park (on the BSTC website):

• Jubilee Green Detail Layout [PDF, 100KB]
• Jubilee Green Drawing [PDF, 2.65MB]