Making Broadfield Park better

Broadfield Park

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Friends of Broadfield park is a community group that meets every month to generate ideas to help improve the facilities of Broadfield Park and to set up events to attract the local community.

Set up almost 15 years ago, the group currently has 10-12 regular members and originally began when they where applying for lottery heritage funding to renovate the park.

Neta Smart, committee member and ex secretary of the group, said: “The landscape was changed, railings were changed, new benches were installed, a new band stand was built and the Victorian bridge was restored with many of its original parts with that money.”

Broadfiled Park is the oldest park in the borough and is of great historical interest to locals. The first areas of the park were opened in early 1870.

Neta added: “It is a very pleasant area. We have a very mixed community here and it is nice to see everyone in the park.”

Money from the lottery heritage also helped the group secure a park warden. “We have a brilliant park warden who does a great job and who works with the local schools and the gardeners here do a great job,” said Neta.

The friends group is currently chaired by Ann Beasley with Anne Sufi taking the role of secretary. The group meets the first Tuesday of every month at 7pm in The Broadfield Park Hotel, located in the park.

Neta added: “We used to meet at my house but the hotel is more central. The hotel kindly offered their room to us for free.”

Friends of Broadfield Park continually works to improve the facilities of the park but those efforts have  met with problems. “There has been some vandalism, and that is a shame, and youths causing trouble on the bowling green” said Neta.

The group is always looking for new members and hopes to attract younger members. “We currently have 2-3 younger members in the group and would love more to join,” added Neta.

The group is currently trying to restore a BMX track and recently held a successful Big Games Day in association with Link4Life.

Neta added: “It’s nice for people to see what has been done.”