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Report transcript in: Reporter Jean talks to Jackie about her involvement and volunteering in the park
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Reporter Jean talks to Jackie about her involvement and volunteering in the park
Please Report the Errrors?
Hello, Jackie. Thanks for agreeing to talk to me.
And, um, what you're doing in the park today,
right?
Just the regular Monday afternoon gardening group, Uh,
that a few of us are involved in just trying to tidy up a few of the beds
in the ornamental gardens. How long have you been doing that? Um
oh, I think it's probably about a year now.
So whenever it's reasonable weather and
you know we're not away, we'll come and have a go at that. Very good.
And do any of the volunteering in the park?
Yeah. So I'm part of Friends of Longford Park, and I I think I've been
a
part of that for about four years since I retired.
Um, so
I've just got involved with various
little projects, and,
um,
the tree trail was one of them
That a few of us, uh,
organise which, um, has been very popular.
Um,
we just get involved with, um,
coordinating things with Amy and Trafford and
trying to put forward, you know, suggestions of things that need doing in the park.
It might be just down to muddy paths or a drainage problem somewhere.
Or trees being fell that we don't know why, you know.
So it's it's kind of keeping those lines of communication open.
Um,
you know, looking at applying for grants for things and
discussing as our
group our committee group, about what improvements we can make,
Um, done done a lot. Really?
As a group, friends of Longford Park have been very, very good.
Yeah. So have you done any fundraising as well for other groups?
Um,
or
funding for, you know, provided funding in your role. Have you suggested
supporting other groups?
Um,
well, there's an initiative to have walking routes around the park.
Um, which is a great idea, really, To encourage people who
might not have walked very much or people who are a little bit lonely, and
they might want to join in.
And maybe people with mental health issues.
I think it's a very important thing that the park should be involved in,
so Yeah, so I've certainly encouraged funding.
Um, for that,
um,
where I think that we're in the process of looking at getting a pump track in the park.
That's something we'll have to,
um, contribute towards. But I think the idea is that we like to
assist
lots of different users of the park.
You know, be the athletics group or the disc golf or pets corner.
You know, it's our It's our job, really.
Our role to being involved as as much as we can.
Yeah. Apart from you volunteering
to visit the park for other reasons as well. How long have you been visiting? Um,
well, I've been coming to the park for over 60 years. Um,
from being very little,
um,
probably in in the early days. It was the days when they had the band stand.
And, um, you might come to see a band performing.
We used to come to the Children's playground, which was
it's changed in format completely now,
Um, probably just to play games, but But most often,
uh, we come in to play tennis,
which we do regularly disc golf and just to walk around the
park and enjoy the Peacefulness and the lovely colours and the trees
that more than anything, really just coming in to get
to get a nice bit of fresh air and a lovely view. So how many generations of your family
in
the park?
Well, four. Yeah. My mom and dad,
um, courted here back in the late 19 forties when they first met,
and I've got lovely photographs of them,
um,
walking along looking very smart because that was the idea.
Then you dressed up for your Sunday walk,
Um, down to,
um,
my little granddaughter. Now who? Who enjoys
coming in the park?
Um,
yeah. So definitely. And I think
we probably all enjoy the park an awful lot more than we used to.
I think there's a lot more going on. Really,
um,
got table tennis. The disc Golf is a big draw
and the pets corner for younger Children
and the big open spaces for playing football and cricket, which, uh,
which we've often enjoyed.
And
have you got a favourite area of the park or a place that you most use
well, apart from the tennis courts? Um, I would say,
um,
I particularly like walking down the main drive,
and I've taken a lot of photographs there,
and I've painted pictures of of the from the photographs
that I've taken because I'd love that avenue of trees,
so that's probably my favourite bit.
But really, any of the parts that have got, um, trees in,
and more recently
we started walking around Ryba
fields as well, which is kind of attached to Longford Park.
And, uh, it would be lovely if that could, um,
stay in public use. It's a natural area.
And, um,
would you say that there are any problem areas or any areas that need attention?
Um,
I think one of the biggest problems
has been the drainage.
Um,
which is kind of a problem all over the park,
particularly around the reservoir in the ornamental gardens.
But
the surface drainage is poor.
Um,
I know that Trafford are looking into that and, you know,
are on to it,
and I I certainly hope that it doesn't take
years to resolve and that something can be done because
certainly in the pandemic it it was difficult to walk around, to be honest,
to find a bit that wasn't waterlogged.
Um, so yeah, the drainage, Um,
and then
just back to the tennis courts again.
Um,
very
they really, really are in need of resurfacing.
Um,
we're very, very lucky to have six courts.
Um, for public use, you don't You know, you don't have to pay to go on there.
Um
It would be great in the future if if if something
could be done about just getting them resurfaced and relined.
The Nets are in pretty good condition,
but the, uh,
the ground is very rotted.
It's got a lot of dips in it, water and mud collecting them,
and it makes it quite hard to to play
at any other time of year apart from summer. And they're extremely popular.
Um, they became popular during the pandemic but
have stayed popular. And I think we've had a lot of enquiries through,
um
through friends at Longford Park, asking about whether they can be improved.
Um, so that that's a key thing for me? Yeah.
And is there anything else you'd like to
talk about in the,
um
well, just to say that it's an absolutely beautiful park. Um,
I kind of get a little bit annoyed when people knock it and refer back to the
days of the great ornamental gardens.
I think that belong to a certain time period, I think,
and I think there's an awful lot going on here.
Um, there's a lot for different ages, and,
um,
it's great. Really? Yeah. Oh, thank you, Jackie.
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