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Report transcript in: Reporter Jean talks to Andy about his long history with the park
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Reporter Jean talks to Andy about his long history with the park
Please Report the Errrors?
right. I'm here with Andy today. And, um,
Andy, would you like to tell us what your connection is with?
Yeah, I've been coming to Longford Park for a long time.
I first came, um, 45 years ago, one of my tutors lived locally,
and I got to know the park then, But, uh,
me and my wife and our family moved to that house, Um,
in 1994
we've been really using it a lot since then. So friends of the park and
other links,
Yeah. So
you
live
in a road near
the
park?
Yeah. Yeah, our son and daughter. And
we spent a long time in the park with them.
And now they both have two Children each, our grandchildren, and
they live very close by.
So we spend a great deal of time in the park with them.
My mom lives not far away.
Um,
so I bring her sometimes push around in the wheelchair, so
it's a multigenerational place that we really like.
And so, um, as well as bringing the family, you're a volunteer in the park as well.
How long have you been volunteering?
Volunteering?
I think that might be about seven or eight years, um, in various guises,
doing some parts of linking in with friends of Longford Park.
But most of my volunteering has been with Sue
in Pets Corner. Sue was integral to
taking over pets corner with a group of volunteers.
It must be about seven or eight years ago, and we've done at least one shift a
week since then, looking after the animals to make sure that it stays open.
Uh, particularly for local Children to enjoy.
And, um
So, uh,
which parts of the park would you say you use as a particular area?
I actually use all of it,
Um,
when I'm with the kids, that tends to be Senior Playground,
a junior playground for the younger grandchildren.
But use,
um, mentioned pets corner.
But I like the wooded area, the ornamental gardens, but also the open field.
The joining Rye Bank Field
and the disc Golf, um,
has been much enhanced since it became a disc golf area.
So there's really a
lot you know, every part of the park is used. Um,
I sometimes bring my daughter's dog in and make sure that
I go sort of on the perimeter of the park,
so it depends what I'm coming for, but
use use every part of it, and it's great.
And,
um,
can
you say that the pandemic had any impact on how often
you
use the
well? I probably used it so frequently, um,
it it.
But even so,
it probably did increase the frequency a bit because we
did some home schooling with our youngest two grandchildren,
and I always walked back and forth through
the park before and after the home schooling and
tried to use some of the amenities and the natural
education facilities that it that it offers as well.
So
even though we're sort of frequent users, it probably did increase.
And I did notice, uh,
an increase generally for people when it became a sort of A
had a bit of a life saving lung when people were otherwise confined to home.
And, um, have you got a favourite feature in the park?
I mean, that's difficult to say. Um,
I suppose it would be pets corner I've and I've failed to mention
before the the the community allotment working in there quite a lot.
I do that a bit less now,
so I do like the community allotment. That was John Rylands Kitchen Garden.
And I do like, um, pets corner. But, uh,
there's something in the car and it's sort of season by season that really lends,
you know, a nice something visually, very nice, almost all the year round,
So hard to choose a favourite, like it the whole area.
And
would you say that there are any problems or difficulties
in the park that you feel need to be resolved?
Um,
I think sometimes the maintenance of the park could be a little bit improved,
but I don't see it as a difficulty.
I see it as something that we can work on in partnership. And, uh,
you know, whoever has the vision for the next use of the park, Um,
I think that'll all be good. The history is very good. I'm sure the future will be.
And if
there was some funding available to do any sort of
technical work or to improve the park in any way,
what sort of thing do you think needs to be improved or
something that would make the park the
space for people to visit? There's sort of two things there.
One's historical and one's more future looking.
There was a a very nice water channel through the
ornamental gardens and one there if that could ever be revived
and the pumps installed to make that moving water that I really like that.
But also in the wide open space, um, adjoining the, um,
Longford running track that field
the idea of a pump track for BMX and scooters and skateboards.
I'd really love to see that happen.
Um,
because I know my grandkids would use that, and, uh,
I think it's would be a great community facility.
Is there any other comments you'd like to make about the park?
The park is very
well,
Yes, I would like to make the comment to summarise,
and it's probably clear from what I've said that it's integral to our life locally
and, uh, across the generations. And it's a vital space for this area
and serves a great community function and look
forward to see what the future might bring.
Because the history is great, and I'm sure the future will be
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