Saturday 22 October 2011

A great place to be

Saturday afternoon, 22nd October.

Wow, what a lovely day. I have just come back from taking my kids to the playpark in Crosby Marine Park, next to the lake.












About 3pm Saturday 22nd October - How many people can you count?

The weather was crisp, clear and bright, and the park was absolutely packed – we had to queue up for every go on the swings, ‘frying pan’ and slide. What an amazing transformation from the state of the park a year and a half ago, when the play area was hidden by rat infested shrubbery and the main users of the equipment were youths looking for a quiet place for an alcoholic drink.

Congratulations should go to the relevant people in Sefton Council, who managed to make the right decisions and implement the right solutions. Everybody involved, which includes the local community via the Friends of the Park, should be proud of how the whole place has been transformed.
The better play area seems to be bringing far more people into the park – all year round, and in turn they are discovering the birds, crabbing, the wealth of water sports on the lake and the Iron Men. 

Good places require constant care and intelligent development. I read in the Crosby Herald the other week how the council are aiming to save money/make money, and one of their budget figures is to make more money from the new Crosby Lakeside Adventure Centre (what a mouthful!). How? 


Sticking an attractive sign up on the building, saying ‘Family CafĂ© and Bistro here!’, would be a good start. Not everybody realises it is a public building, not just a water sports centre, and any commercial bistro would surely be promoting themselves to the captive  (trapped with children) audience of parents in the park. I was definitely in the market for a coffee and some hot hearty grub after my stint of childcare, along with a couple of cakes for the kids.

Next Saturday 29th Oct 3pm- 5pm it the Scarecrow Festival in the Marine Gardens next door. This was a really brilliant family event last year. Here's a review from last year -www.sevenstreets.com

Let’s hope for the same weather as today. See you there.

ABetterCrosby  

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