Home is where the Art is: Playing out

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Saturday, 2 July 2016

Play out in Kings Heath

Swan Corner Community Group and Woodcraft Folk South Birmingham want children to be able to play freely outside their own front door. That's why we're really excited about Playing out, and why we're playing out Wheelers Lane for a third year running, on 7th July 5:30 to 9pm.

Active Parks have helped organising with Birmingham City Council and will bring archery, tennis, badminton, basketball, skittles, giant snakes and ladders, skipping ropes and more.

Play on our mean streets

Escalator to the gym

Great to see so many enthusiastic cyclists as you enter Kings Heath. Sadly they are lined up on bike machines looking out of a shop window in a gym, and not so many on the street - lots of people want to ride bikes, walk and run, but apparently would rather do it indoors. The car park behind the gym is full. Why aren't they on our streets, biking, running, walking? Is it because people don't feel safe on our streets, or that it's just not as warm & friendly as in a gym?

Know your neighbour

Best not to cut yourself off from neighbours

Last week it was time to put letters through the doors to invite everyone to our community group. It's a job I quite like doing, and one which our kids are always happy to volunteer for. We were also delivering a first letter inviting residents to take part in 'Playing out' on two late summer afternoons.

Playing out is where we close the road for traffic for neighbours to meet up and play. Wheelers lane is particularly lucky in that it has a stretch of green between the road and the houses which, when the service road is closed, is big enough for a game of football. Local residents who have been there a while say kids used to play regularly on it, but since I've been living round the corner (15 years) it's mainly used as a car park, or sometimes a cut through for cars desperate to avoid traffic.

Last year we ran Playing out on national play day, 7th August 2014. Having started our own community group earlier on that year, I thought I knew a lot of our neighbours, but I met many more, and a bit of luck with the weather gave me and my children a good chance to chat and play in the sun.

This year we're running it again, this time after school so we can invite Swanshurst school as well. Birmingham City Council have once again waived the fee to close the road, Amey are willing to provide road blockades as and when required for free too, and Highways will give permission following assurance we will behave responsibly.

Both Swan Corner community group and 'playing out' work on different principles to gated communities, which assume keeping people away from where you live is safer:

A community group, and playing out, invites people in to where we live to make it a safer, better place. By opening conversations and play, we hope to build trust between neighbours. For example in our area litter, vandalism and agressive behaviour are problems. We've organised litter picking, planted trees and worked with residents, local groups and Swanshurst school on arts projects including making our fabulous Swan sculpture.

We're run by residents, not the council or a private business. Where there has been an opportunity to collaborate with others, like Swanshurst School, we've taken it - one of our 'playing out' sessions will also be with Moseley and Kings Heath woodcraft folk.

It's still all very new to us, and feels like an experiment. From the start of Swan Corner Community Group many people have given good reasons to doubt it'll work. Who knows? Maybe they're right, but whatever happens, I know we've done the right thing trying.

Useful links:

http://www.khcse.org/whos-coming-out-to-play/

http://www.khcse.org/playing-out-on-national-playday/

http://birminghamlives.blogspot.com/2014/09/looking-after-your-own.html

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/gated-communities-and-segregated-schools-6bn-cost-of-poor-social-integration-9805025.html

http://www.independent.co.uk/property/house-and-home/rise-in-gated-communities-could-pose-a-threat-to-public-services-581318.html

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/france/10206682/Fortress-Britain-No-weve-had-dozens-of-invasions.html

Friday, 19 September 2014

Generations meet in Kings Heath

Messy fun in Kings Heath

Saturday will be a special day (again) in Kings Heath, with the focus very much on play and sharing. The Residents Forum will be running an event called ‘Your generation My generation’ – at All Saints Centre (Main Hall) on Saturday 20 September 2014, 11am-1:30pm, follow by the AGM. Meanwhile in Kings Heath Park Parks4Play host yet another wonderful Carnival of Play event.

Parks4Play on York Road couple of weeks ago

If you time it right, you could meet up for a chat with AGE UK, Hall Green Arts Forum, KH & M Playing Out Group, CircusMASH our own Councillor Lisa Trickett, Neighbourhood Watch, representatives from Sainsburys, Kings Heath Explorer Scouts and many others.

Then if you're feeling like you need a quick stretch in the park, pop down for a bungee run, assault course, wrecking ball, spray painting, low ropes, musical mobiles, stocks and water slide, all courtesy of Parks4Play (1 to 4pm) and their funders, who have been working tirelessly to bring fun to Kings Heath all Summer.

See you there!

Sunday, 14 September 2014

Looking after your own

Scootering on Valentine Road

“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed, citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.” Margaret Mead

Playing out 7th August 2014 - six streets closed, a series of events about 100 people on each street - over 1000 people taking part including more activities on the High street, all coordinated by a few volunteers who wanted to do something for their kids, their local community.

'Playing out' started in Bristol 2009, where one street was closed down and around 50 people came to play. By the next year it was six streets. The year after Bristol Council developed a 'Temporary Street Play Order', and now deals with over 300 requests a year for street closures for a range of residents events.

In Birmingham 'Playing out' started in 2013 with 3 streets. This year was six, and with support from Birmingham City Council street closure fees are waived, and we are well on the way to having our own temporary street closure order for future events.

Laying the turf on Kings Heath High Street

Kings Heath has been undergoing a revolution in 'people power' over the last few years. Kings Heath Square only opened in 2011, and is always not just packed and active, but hosts a range of activities for young and old - music, markets, dance, drama... More recently that interest in community has spread to re-assessing and 'reclaiming' the streets.

Two weeks after 'Playing out' on 7th August, 'DIY Streets Kings Heath' closed parking lots down the High Street, and on the last sunny weekend of the summer holiday York Road, Kings Heath closed to traffic for a festival billed as 'the first festival for families'

Party Time at Kings Heath Festival

It's exciting to see the changes happening, in peoples attitudes, in planning and physically to the spaces around us. Never before have I felt how much we can make a difference for the better to the people and places immediately around us.

Useful links:

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