The Batch Community Centre and Coronation Park
Karen from “Esther’s @ The Batch� We are students from the University of the West of England doing a project on Community spirit. How important do you think places like this are to the communities outside the City Centre?
I feel that places like The Batch are incredibly important to the community. Not only, do they give a whole range of people a place to go and get out of the solitude of their home but it also creates something for them to care about. And when people care about something they then are interested in looking after it. Especially, here because Cadbury Heath is a priority neighbourhood, it really gives individuals a greater feeling of community and purpose, so the area can keep improving.
I was really impressed by the number of daily events that the community has organised has it taken long for these to be established?
Do you to sta area?
Many of the residents have decided t their own initiative. So, it has tak running but has really been pushed b interest.
u find that people tend ay in and around the
to create things off ken a while to get by the communities’
I currently live in Fishponds and similar to people here I have a very strong identity with my area. I have found that in Cadbury Heath there will be many generations of a family living close to each other. I think people get attatched to the area as everybody knows everybody and there is a great community atmosphere, which has got better with the help of places like The Batch.
That leads on nicely to my next question - I saw that this place is a non-profit venture. How does that work?
I personally am a volunteer and I think so are a lot of the others who work here. It was difficult at the start to get people to volunteer, but then when people saw the good this place was doing they were more interested to give back the community.
Banjo Island bus stops and The Community Information Centre
INFORMAL CHAT WITH THE COMMUNITY INFORMATION CENTRE WHAT DOES THIS SPACE DO? On a thursday we do a food store which is basically where people who have no money or a low income get a voucher (you can only get vouchers from certain places) and theY need an interview done. we take people into the food store with their allowance, depending on their income, then we take them into the food store and they choose their foods. They actually choose the food themselves, in a lot of places people get given a box, but here they get to come in and choose what they want.
I SAW YOU WERE LINKED UP TO THE JUICE COMMUNITY CENTRE, DO YOU THINK THAT IT BENEFITS THE COMMUNITY? I think because round here everybody knows that this is the place to come if you need anything, you’ve got the bus stops outside and the information here, so everybody comes here.
SO DO THE TEENA AROU
Yeah, cause’ there’s nothing for them to do, I mean we skate park built and they just kept trashing it. It took th to get that skate park, years. I don’t know if you know call us a priority area, so they were trying to bring st help and then there’s the park across the road but it co get trashed. It’s
HOW LONG HAS JUICE BEEN RUNNING?
Here they do lots of after school stuff, like homework clubs and tod friday
IS IT FREE?
DO YOU EXPAND
AGERS HANG UND A LOT?
e had the hem years but they tuff in to onstantly a shame.
Yeah, it’s all free. I have 2 kids at the school here and they come here and it starts at half three and there’s someone who helps with the homework. In the holidays there is something called fun in the park, I mean, we’re quite linked to The Batch down the round - here are HAVE PLANS TO some leaflets - which is free. We THE INSIDE SPACE? have had to limit the numbers A lot of schools break up this friday though because the field is like a but my kids go back to school on tuesswamp right now, so they have to go day, so the holidays are staggered which inside. The space is limited inside helps with the numbers. That’s why I so that’s why we had to limit the think, The Island - you know everyone numbers. calls it Banjo Island
ddlers on a monday and
WHERE IS THAT? You know the space here, it kinda looks like an Island so a lot of people will be like “Oh you goin’ up the Island?” So people come and hang around here, cause’ the shops are here and that. Everyone knows each other here see, I mean after dark it’s a bit different, but apart from that It’s pretty safe...
The Old Golf Course
INFORMAL CHAT WITH THE COMMUNITY INFORMATION CENTRE CONTINUED ...I mean people had burnt out motorbikes down by the Skate Park, so then they had to wait for it to be re surfaced - there’s nothing for the teenagers to do around here.
WHEN WE SPOKE TO KAREN SH FEELING OF COMMUNITY HERE, DIFFERENT FOR THE YOUNG PEO
HAVE YOU LIVED HERE LONG?
I think for the teenagers like I mean anywhere you ing to be groups hanging around here is seems like are a lot of kids, and th cause any trouble that ju There are a lot of older well so they don’t like t around - but there’s now go. There’s a nice park u Barr’s Court, people go t could go take pictures.
Yeah, I’ve lived here for about 7 years now, I lived on the other side of the Island for 5 years and now I’on this side of the Island. I haven’t got any problems here, I’ve got 3 kids one’s 12, one’s 9 and one’s 5 so obviously like my eldest likes to got to the library, he’s very much like that. The library rang me up the other day, they love him, and they were like we haven’t seen Ben in ages! He’s starting secondary school in september so he’s been working really hard, bless him.
I think they just moved the homework club to the library.
IS THAT ROUND THE BACK? No, no, if you literally walk r
We also have the church, which after school, which isn’t preac to help us once a month. I mean
HE SAID THERE WAS A GREAT DO YOU THINK THIS IS OPLE?
s, to be honest, go there are goaround, but e times 20. There hey don’t seem to ust hang around. people here as the teens hanging where for them to up the road called there a lot, you
WE WERE TALKING ABOUT WHAT BENEFITS A COMMUNITY LIKE THIS HAS, IN COMPARISON TO THE CITY CENTRE WHERE EVERYONE IS SO INDEPENDENT: It’s not like everybody knows your business but everyone knows you, so they’ll be like you alright? Because their’s lots of old people around here they all have lots of dogs, so they go over but the golf course and everyone walks their dogs and talks to each other. People are always in and out of other people’s houses, we look out for each other. Noone’s in a rush around here is very laid back, which is nice. We try and help people really as much as we can, like you can come in here if you have debt problems, you can make and appointment to talk to us, if you need help with benefits, anything like that.
round here it’s right in front of you, the big green gates are the school and it’s just there. tend to do a lot of stuff with the school. On a monday they do this thing called a messy church ching but it’s colouring a play. The vicar he is brilliant, all the kids know him and he comes n everyone’s friendly.
The Old Youth Centre
INFORMAL CHAT WITH THE COMMUNITY INFORMATION CENTRE CONTINUED
IS THERE ANYTHING THAT THIS CENTRE PARTICULARLY STRUGGLES WITH? We need more volunteers and Fun in the park.
They really struggle in the summer holidays, 6 weeks is a long time with people going away. The volunteering side is fine but it takes awhile to get the CRB checks done. I was helping with the toddlers at one point and now I’m helping with the food. There’s always something to do. We get our food from ASDA Longwell Green, they drop it off here in the baskets.
IS IT QUITE A LONG PROCESS TO SIGN UP? No, you can sign up
corner. Go have a wa you what we actually
THANK YOU FOR YOUR TIME! That’s alright
DO YOU GET ANYTHING SENT THAT’S OUT OF DATE? There were a few tins dropped off the other day that went off in 2015, so we
came in once last year that expired in 2002! I was like are you kidding me to clear their cupboards out after christmas, so we et some real random st don’t do clothes or fridge here or cat food or dog food. Because, well you and look at bank statements.
though Merlin housing and sure start, round the alk around, if you take these leaflets they show y do as well. The library is just up the road.
t it’s fine, bye!
e can only keep those tins for 6 months, as we can only store so much here. Something e?! That we had to get rid of immediately. I suppose it’s cause’ loads of people tend tuff. It’s the toiletries that people don’t think, like toothbrushes and shampoo. But we u can’t afford an animal if you need food from here. We interview everyone who comes here
Coronation Play Park Area
QUESTIONS WITH A DOG WALKER: HOW OFTEN DO YOU COME TO CORONATION PARK? Most days when I can, except for when the weather’s really bad. They still play football here so it get all muddy.
DO YOU ENJOY WALKING YOUR DOGS HERE? Yes, I’ve been here a long time so have been walking my dogs here for a few years. The golf course is a better walk as it isn’t so muddy. I go there now and again but I used to go everyday, but since they built the skate park, there’s bottles and rubbish, which isn’t good for dogs. but I also end up picking up loads of rubbish. It is a shame as it is quite nice up there, and it’s drier and higher up. There are quite a few allotments up there but it was the old golf course. I feel that we’re quite lucky up here as we have lots of green space. When you go into Warmley, there is the old train station which is a really nice place. They have a nice forest up there too where a lot of people go, which is about 10 minutes away.
DO YOU FEEL THAT SPACES LIKE THIS BRING THE COMMUNITY TOGETHER?
No, I don’t see a soul, I’m generally the only one here! As you know that community centre, have lots of family events on but I don’t really know what goes on there. I just saw that the car park was quite full, there were lots of mother and babies that came out. It would be nice to have something put through the door you know, so I don’t know what happens up there. I have heard that the Cafe is nice but I don’t like to go on my own.
I’m a widow you see, and it’s alright to go with a friend a couple of times if you’re on your own it’s more difficult. I live down on the main road but lived in Oldland before. I’ve been here for 16 years and it’s a lot better around here, a lot has changed around here, there used to be a lot of problems around here with drugs mainly. Lots of youngsters getting involved with that sort of thing. A few years ago there used to be shop on The Island that was selling alcohol to underage kids, and I have an awful feeling it’s still going on. But as I said on the wholes it’s a lot better here than it used to be.
The Island
QUESTIONS WITH A DOG WALKER CONTINUED
DO YOU THINK THIS GREEN SPACE WILL EVER BE BUILT ON? HOW WOULD YOU FEEL ABOUT THIS? Well, where the old youth club is next door, they’re planning to build 25 houses this year in that space. A lot for the space, that should be starting soon but there’s an issues with the access as they only have that one road, so it will get really busy. They don’t seem to worried about it though and you know they are building on some green belt now. The government says that’s what we have to do, hopefully that won’t happen to this field as quite a few youngsters use this pitch and the men use it for cricket. Somebody told me yesterday actually that in front of the new community centre it’s always soaking wet so they put tonnes and tonnes of gravel and sand there but underneath it all is a fresh spring! Years and years ago this all used to be farmland and she said that as the years have gone on they’ve tried to something about it but it always stays soaking wet.
So yeah, a lot of money has gone into the youth club, they used to have fights outside the youth club on a Friday night. It wasn’t always our local kids to be fair it was the kids from North Common and Longwell Green, the trouble was that there was only one lady in charge with loads of teens. It got so bad that there were even knives involved and one...
Friday night they tried to stop a bus, it came round and they stopped it and clambered on board. The driver stopped the bus and the police with their riot vans were called and then the place was shut down. I feel they just ruin it for themselves, which is a shame. Even the little park on the other side is always empty, and it’s like that all through the summer! They even put down the new floor and the basketball court and it’s such a shame that they don’t use it. But then when it closes down they moan, it’s a lot cleaner now over there so I don’t see why no-one uses it.
I HAVE NEVER SEEN THAT MANY YOUNG PEOPLE AROUND, WHERE DO THEY GO?
They tend to hang out around the co-op now, around 7.30, maybe 20-30 kids are there just hanging around. The police used to try and get them to move on but I think they’re taking a different approach so instead of trying to get them to clear off they are trying to build a report with them instead. As far as I know there aren’t many activities for the teens so they just hang around.I feel that they need the right sort of people to run the youth club, but it does seem to be that there’s couple of kids that ruin it all for the rest of the group.
THE BUSES SEEM QUITE RELIABLE EACH TIME I’VE COME HERE, DO YOU USE THEM MUCH YOURSELF? The buses are good, but they do keep swapping them around and re-routing them which get a bit complicated. The buses to Keynsham and to Bath are really good, it’s about 25 minutes and they come every half hour by the crescent.
Siston Brook
QUESTIONS WITH A DOG WALKER CONTINUED
FROM SPEAKING TO PEOPLE IN THE COMMUNITY CENTRE I GOT THE FEELING THAT PEOPLE WERE QUITE PROUD OF THE COMMUNITY AND THE AREA, WHAT DO YOU THINK THE TEENS FEEL ABOUT CADBURY HEATH? It cost the council a lot of money to build the skate park for them and within weeks of it going up there was graffiti everywhere and rubbish. There used to be fences around the skate park but they smashed them all down and they’ve had problems in the summer with staying out late and the language as it’s quite close to some housing on that side. So the council then spent lots of money putting large screens up all around the skate park, to try and shelter the noise and the mess. So yeah, they just ruin it for themselves. My car is parked over in the car park, so that’s it my darling, do you know you’re way back?