Playground workers.
First a welcome from Hanneke the playgrounds present Playleader
Here we are it is now 2007, and I am still at Somerville .
It has been a long time and I still have not had enough.
Sometimes people ask me if I ever get bored, and the answer is no.I love my job and I love working with the kids of New Cross, and I feel very privileged to be able to work within an ethnic diversity like ours and to have the respect and trust of so many different children and parents.
Feedback from: parents that once were children using the playground, kids using the playground now, today's parents and the wider local community, all prove that Somerville is a unique, loved and very special place.So we have to make sure there will be a Somerville Adventure for the next generations to come.
This means we need a new building as our old building is long past its sell by date. And that is where we are today. We have managed to convince the New Deal for Communities of the importance of the playground.
Although we were hopeful to have our new building up and running by now, we have had a few set backs, and it is taking a lot longer than we originally anticipated.
But we have drawn up a Business plan to plan for the future, become a Company limited by guarantee and are on the way to be an independent Charity. (we will stay affiliated to 170 community project ).
We feel that the ethos of the playground as a free open access play facility with a very strong community base has to be paramount in all the things we do.
This is about a project that has served New Cross for the past 34 years, we held on in spite of a lot other playgrounds closing down around us, often through lack of funding, and now we have the opportunity to make sure it can last for another 34 years or more. We are getting everything in place to make sure the new building will become a reality soon.
Workers are:
Senior play worker Hanneke Nicholson
Gary Brown
Tony Knight
Bradley Cummings
We also use sessional workers during the playschemes.
One of these is; Kimmykool, who helps with the running of our playschemes, provision of art based workshops and our interactive website.
STAFF REPORT 2007
Somerville is the place where young kids growing up in New Cross hang out and spend their social time away from home and school.
It is free and open access, without the needs to fill in lots of forms or having to become a member, this makes it attractive to all the local kids and specially the ones which otherwise would be left to hang out on the street.
We are a very strong community based facility, well respected and appreciated by the local residents. Somerville is an integral part of any child growing up in New Cross; and we now have second and third generations of families using us. There is a strong feeling of ownership; the playground belongs to the children.
It is the place where you socialise and meet with the other young people growing up in New Cross, where you can find sympathetic adults that will give you help and support and that are willing to listen and spent some time with you.
Our play schemes this year with the extra funding from the NDC, allowed us to take our kids on lots of extra on and offsite activities. Coach trips to Margate, Chessington, Thorpe Park. Lots of trips in the minibus to other adventure playgrounds, ice skating rock climbing, swimming and lots more. Our children went on a residential trip to Gloucestershire.
We had creative art sessions on the playground, with Other World Arts and Kimmy Kool worked with the kids on our website, and helped us to involve our kids in the creation of our new building.
In partnership with the New Cross Neighbourhood Wardens we organised DR. Bike cycle maintenance workshops this summer.
We work together with Edmund Waller primary school and closely with the three outreach workers from the local triangle primary schools.
Our work involving our kids in planning for the future has been ongoing. Workshops and visits from architects have been part of our activities over the past years, and we are now finally ready to start the new building as planning permission has been granted by LBLewisham.
Our priority now is preparing for new projects we would like to develop with the arrival of our new building.
Apart from the day to day running of the playground and very successful play schemes all year round, we have also worked with management at a business plan.
Staff changes and the need to catch up with new developments have taken up a lot of our time. This has not been an easy year for us but we are proud of what we have achieved. The playground is a happy place, and the feedback from local parents and kids is brilliant.
Next generation
Whilst working at Somerville from summer 2006 I have learnt a lot and gained much respect from many young people. I think it has been a wonderful experience and I can see a lot of talent. I think Somerville Adventure has a key role in young people’s lives socially.
Like everybody else I am very excited at the prospect of our new building to be developed. I think it will be a wonderful project that the whole community will benefit from.
I strongly believe that the kids on the playground will grow up to be positive role models for the next generation.
Bradley