New 'Pocket Park' opened in Stocksbridge

WORK has recently been completed on a pocket park at Cedar Road in Stocksbridge, creating a natural play area for children, improving the environment for wildlife and providing a useable outdoor area for everyone to enjoy.

The project was developed by local charity, the Steel Valley Project, following a survey of people in the area which looked at how the outdoors could be improved for people and wildlife. The results identified that there was a need for more children’s play facilities so, in conjunction with Sheffield City Council, the charity identified the area of open space on Cedar Road and drew up plans for the site.

The funding for the work has come from a variety of sources, including Sheffield City Council, Stocksbridge Town Council, Stocksbridge and Upper Don TARA (Tenants and Residents Association) and the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government’s ‘Pockets Park Plus Fund’.

With work on the Cedar Road Pocket Park now finished, the space has been transformed. It includes a natural play area for children with sandstone boulders, stepping logs and a balancing beam, plus newly planted trees and a wildflower meadow which will be full of colour in the summer months and provide a home for wildlife.

Sheffield chainsaw sculptor, Lorraine Botterill, was commissioned to create wood carvings of wildlife designs on the large oak logs, which children at Stocksbridge Junior School helped to design and put the finishing touches on the sculptures with hand chisels.

An information panel explaining more about the work which has taken place and three new benches were the final addition to the new Pocket Park.

Speaking about the project, Steel Valley Project Manager, Tom Newman, said: “This initiative has provided a great opportunity for collaboration between local authorities, residents, Steel Valley Project volunteers and local contractors. The natural play area incorporates locally sourced sandstone and oak and allows children to play in imaginative ways.

“Undertaking this programme of work has allowed Steel Valley Project to develop a new service which can now be offered to other organisations such as schools and parks who may wish to create similar natural play areas.”