Over the last few weeks, we have been involved in a regeneration project to try and get a new park for our area. We feel there aren’t enough facilities in Ancoats and not enough people listen to what we have to say. We went to Crowcroft Park in Longsight to gather information about how they got their park by asking the people who were using the park to fill in a questionnaire.

We asked them what they thought about the park and how they went about getting funding. We also took pictures of the facilities.

A few people wouldn’t talk to us, but most people we spoke to were very polite and answered all our questions. They told us, that the people in the area got together with others in the community to discuss things that would benefit everybody and they came up with plans to build: a play area where parents could bring their toddlers to play safely, a sports area for older children, teenagers and young adults with equipment for football, basketball and tennis. They also thought it was important to have plenty of benches with shelter for protection against the weather.

We found that the people we spoke to, really appreciated the park and took care of it, and they all liked spending time there. We believe that this is the reason that there is no vandalism.

We were quite surprised when we went to Crowcroft Park because most of the people were quite happy to talk to us. We tried to imagine what kind of a welcome a large group of teenagers would get if they came to our area, and we all think that the lads around our area would think that they had come for a fight so they might not be as welcoming or sociable to the strangers, here in Ancoats as people were to us in Crowcroft Park.

We would like a big park in our area with different places and things to do, for example a spongy play area for little children, and a bigger park for teenagers. There should be sports facilities for anyone who wants to use them, and seating areas for people who want to sit and rest. We think there should be large grassy areas for people who just want to stroll about or walk their dogs. We would like there to be something in the park for people of all ages to enjoy.

Here are the things we thought important that would be included in our park; Floodlights, Shelter, Benches, Bins, A children’s play area, Sports facilities and Toilets

Most of all we need people coming together to try to make these things happen. It could be done with help from the council, Groundwork, and all sections of the community.

Candy O’Leary, Carla Eadsforth, Caroline Buckley, Cassie Saxon, Hayley Jones, Emma Abalogun, Emma Maylett, Jade Maylett, Kirsty Riley, Megan Carr