Hilly Fields playground update
Coming attractions - the new playground is taking shapeWarmer weather is finally here and in the spring, a young child's fancy lightly turns to thoughts of sandpits. However, as these photos show, the Hilly Fields playground is still a building site - a pristine sandpit is currently fenced off.
Happily though, most of the hard work has been done and the project remains on course to open on time.
Friend of Hilly Fields Rachel explains:
The main part of work should be completed within days. There is a problem with the water supply, they have found the stop cocks but when they have been turned on there is no water. So seems they will be having to put a new supply in from the loo block.
We will be wanting to try and get grass and plants established before the playground is open, which will require a bit of patience from all.
48 comments:
The trouble with the Sand Pit is, if it doesn't have some kind of lockable cover all sorts of things will get in the sand.
True - but I managed to survive childhood without a lockable cover on our playground sand pit.
I would have thought that so long as babies aren't eating sand (which some amazingly like to do!) the kids of Brockley should be fine.
Apart from leaves and twigs I have yet to see anything “au natural” in the Hilly Fields sand pit. Plenty of left behind spades and buckets though.
I for one am looking forward to the new play park! I’m sure it will make a pleasant change for adults too who have to spend at least one day of their weekend in summer there!
What's the water supply needed for? Atomiser refilling station?
when does it reopen please.Can anyone tell me? thanks
There's always some little oiks who will vandalise it.Perhaps CCTV would be a good Idea.
No there aren't. The old playground was left alone. The Telegraph Hill playground is still in good condition.
The water is, presumably, for a water play feature. I heard it was due to re-open at the end of April, but I don't know if this has been pushed back because of the water issue. As for vandals, as Nick has pointed out, the previous playground wasn't ruined by evil yoofs. It a shame that whenever there's some good news, somebody has to come up with a reason why it's bad/pointless/a waste of time or effort or money.
I used to take my gerbils to my local sand pit to play. They loved it and it didn't do them any harm!
Is it me or does that last comment sounds weird?
Please no CCTV - or the council will come up with a scheme on how they can use it to fine us.
More of a hamster man myself.
Will there be opportunities for other local interest groups to use the space?
brockley dogging society for example?
Exactly Nick the play park is OLD, no point vandalising something that is old.
Do the maths, how much does CCTV cost vs the likleyhood and impact of vandelism? New trees sometimes get branches snapped off, we could point a camera at each one but that would be stoopid
The Telegraph Hill playground required Moody-esque constant vigilance. There was trouble with graffiti at the start but Glendale made it a point of principle to remove it almost instantly so there was little incentive to continue tagging.
I think the notion of taking your gerbils to play in a sand-pit is brilliant, but I would be terribly worried they might run away.
There aren't many places to spray a tag so wouldn't think it's an issue.
The equipment is invariably made of steel, very tough rubber and wood so pretty indestructible (unless you start a fire!).
And it's right next to one of Lewisham's best all girl schools so there'll be plenty of activity during the day to keep an eye on truant disaffected youth (thus unlikely to be a hang out for them).
Don't tempt fate. I remember seeing the play park in Charlton after 'vandals' set light to it (a few years ago)and there was no wood there. I've no idea how they did it but the place had melted. Horrifying.
Besides which, the remedies proposed are almost always worse than the problem.
I'd much rather put up with the risk of a bit of tagging than the certainty of taking my kids to a playground with ugly, intrusive CCTV.
People occasionally do anti-social things in Hilly Fields. The solution isn't to put a barbed wire fence around it, it's to create a nice environment that people want to use, so that the presence of people deters the vandals and to encourage people to respect communal spaces.
You don't do that by installing CCTV...
I'm pitching a new show to Sky. "Dogging, Camera, Action!" Russel Brand's people have been in touch about the VoiceOver
It's been done. :)
The CCTV could be switched on when it gets dark, not during the day.
Expensive, ugly waste of time. If it's at night, the hypothetical vandal isn't going to be easily identifiable or deterred. No one will be watching the CCTV, so you won't prevent vandalism, you'll just have some grainy shots of a hooded figure that the police won't act on because they will feel they have better things to worry about.
It's like the safety fence around the Brockley xmas tree.
We should stop worrying about what might happen and just get on with enjoying ourselves. If we allow ourselves to be scared of crime, we'll never leave our own homes.
Are these those skateboarding uber thugs from tele hill? That Anthony Burgess book, A Chocolate Orange, was very perceptive.
Surely it Clockwork Orange.
I'm strangley pleased to known as a "serious royal class dick"
...and anon @13:54 I think you'll find, if you watch the fim, that Malcolm McDowell feasts on one of the tasty cholcolate confections after kicking to death that tramp on the South Bank. They had to change the name of the film after a threat of legal action from Terry's - FACT....or fiction..???
Those kids called it right. There's some people that post on here who on the surface seem 'nice' jocular, but there's real bitterness about them.
Hmmm seems to me that all the bitterness is coming from Master Boyd-Esposito and his mates...
They certainly seem to be lacking a GSOH - I found monkeyboy's COD comments very funny.
They certainly seem to be lacking a GSOH - I found monkeyboy's COD comments very funny.
I was put out by being labelled old.
So funny I had to post it twice.
So funny I had to posr it twice.
There has been a sand pit in the park and there have been no significant problems with the sand. Evidence from other parks including unfenced areas of sand has shown that problems are rare.
I've never come across anyone saying the problem with grass is all sorts of things will get on it. Dog fouling can be pretty hard to spot on grass, as is embedded glass.
Hornimum triangle have had their sand for over a year now and there has been no great problems. Apparently the foxes do foul on the decking.
There have been spates of vandalism in the park quite recently and no doubt there will be in the future, but we think it is a bit defeatist to decide that it isn't worth improving one of the area's play spaces by doing nothing.
Would we not buy a car because it might get stolen?
The official opening is most likely to take place in the summer half term, but we are expecting the playground to open before then. We'll be waiting for the grass to establish first. I'll try and get the actual date.
We welcome the introduction of a sandy play area and ensure that all of our members refrain from foul play.
I'd welcome some editing of site, so when we are discussing something positive for children we don't have to have prats and their boring misplaced comments.
I've just been to the park and the playground is looking amazing. All the artificial hills etc are turfed now - it looks like the tellytubbies studio (but more tasteful and without the rabbits). The water issue has clearly been sorted as you can see where they've had to lay the pipes all the way from the loo block. Word on the street is that it'll be open at the beginning of May. My kids are really excited.
I walked past this morning and it really is looking great. Shame they don't sell bread in waxed paper anymore as I'd be the first one down that slide.
Well done again to the fundraisers.
Updated piccies, please?
Like the notion of a Teletubbies set.
I took some not very good ones on my phone - not sure how I get them on here though. Shall I email them to you Nick?
Yes please, thanks.
PARK LOOKS AMAZING! before I start the questions round, I'd like to comment on the seesaw "will it be vandalized or won't it". Life's too short - why don't we settle it by all checking the insurance policy!
These are real questions, if anyone knows the answer to any of them, please educate:
Q1. Is the park insured and if so, who pays for it and what does it cover?
Q2. As the park is soon to be launched/handed over/signed off/bill for it paid! Who will be checking that's it's perfect before we pay the last of the money?
Q3. Fantastic as 90% of the new park is, is there an issue with the swing situation that could be resolved before the park is handed over?
Q4. Will future playpark-goers expect at least the same number of toddler and adult swings?
Q5. Were the original toddler and adult swings used much?
Yes the park is insured, but I'd have to go back to Greenscene and ask for the specifics. It think from comments made over the years, but not all from Lewisham officers, that although it is insured the council would not normally make a claim if something gets vandalised or stolen as it isn't worth the no claims. I suppose that we all pay for the insurance in our council tax? I can try and follow this up, but not right now.
There was a meeting this Friday with contractor, council and the council selected landscape architect who progressed the scheme on site. They did not hand over the scheme and are meeting again next Friday. As it was weekend I haven't got the full info, but would suspect they need better progress with the establishment of the grass. They will have gone round checking all items. There has also been a H&S check.
I wasn't invited to the handover meeting and already had some meetings that day and wouldn't have been able to make it. I think that the £50K of grant money will need to be signed for by the Friends, but the remaining money is the responsibility of the council.
We have an additional two junior swings from the original 4. These are on the hexagon structure.
There were two toddler swings and we requested these were replaced. The are sited by the entrance gate. The railing was retained to stop children cutting across in front of them. These swings are supposed to have toddler cradle seats. Currently the wrong two seats have been sent and they are flat seats. I don't know where the mistake was made and don't care. I just want the right seats on the bay before it opens. I cannot deal with the flood of emails which will come through if we are missing toddler seats.
We also have space for a cradle swing. This had to be cost cut out. We will be on the look out for additional funds in future years.
Yes the swings were very popular and very well used. They were frequently missing seats though. I was told that this was because too many children would get on them at once. The other very obvious reason was because they had great chunks bitten out of them. Probably the same people who encourage their dog to ruin the trees.
We are hoping the seats on the hexagon swing won't be so conducive to training your fighting dog. The design of the park should also make it less appealing to the dog owners as they won't have the fenced areas to contain the dog. Lets hope.
Are the council putting any money in or simply spending only the grant which others worked for?!
Surely lewisham council, with elections coming up could donate a drop in the ocean to buy the additional swing!? Given the amount they spent on false digging display work down by the station...
Any chance of a scheme for users of the park to donate a few extra plants?
For cheap education purposes for the kids and adults, what about a plant map display board?
It still looks great!
Yes the council are putting in some money. I haven't really been involved with the contract details and valuations, just mainly get ignored at this stage! They have also ensured that when we couldn't find any water in all the pipes which once ran to the playground they made sure we had funds to bring it from the loo block.
I'd say Greenscene have been very supportive and enlightened towards are project and many other playgrounds in Lewisham. To which I say a very big thankyou.
Could do with someone going and rejigging the plants as I think some of them won't withstand a weeks footfall. We would always be welcome of some community planting, as long as it is the right sort of plants!
Any ideas when the playground will actually open? My daughter is getting very impatient!
So am I.
I didn't hear back from council or landscape architect on Friday, but I was of the opinion they were going back to check with view to the contractor handing it over. The sticking point seemed to be the grass which hasn't taken in a few parts and the lack of matting which goes over the turf. Not been up for a few days, but this was due during the week and I didn't see any sign of it.
The gates were also due to be fixed this week. I saw the blacksmiths on Tuesday but don't know if they have now completed.
Incase anyone is interested, Blythe Hill has also had its playground revamped, I don't know if they are open yet?
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