Author Topic: Ward End Park  (Read 29438 times)

Shnsh

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Re: Ward End Park
« Reply #33 on: June 10, 2015, 11:08:10 PM »
I forgot to add there is still a Fair that takrs place a few times during the year
The dolphin house is used as a local community hub
The local school and nursery use it daily, children play there and also use the allotment space allocated to them to grow their own veg!
I know Washwood Heath nursery (outstandinn Ofstead rating) use this park heavily as they use the entrance on Sladefield Road.
Also the Sladefield (outstanding Ofstead rating) and Thornton School are regular users
There are many cultural Fairs taking place at the park during different times of the year, this is perfect for family gathering.
Yes the area can be seen to be rough but underneath that there is a caring mixed community!
Its easy to judge from the outside, im just trying to show that this park is still loved and used and not neglected!
Community is working together to rid of Drug and prostitution problems here, its actually been a while since i heard of anything negative associated with the park and i hope it stays that way!

mercury

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Re: Ward End Park
« Reply #34 on: August 09, 2015, 01:35:32 PM »
I'm reading this thread as the TV is useless but at least we've won the Ashes! Moved to Australia in 1977 but have fond memories of my Birmingham years. Ward End park seemed huge to me as a young boy. Manicured lawns and beautiful trees. On a visit in1995 I went to the park and saw it in full splendour during spring. I could not get over how big the blossom was on the horse chestnut trees and it was great just to walk around the park. When I left school (Sir Wilfrid Martineau) in 1967 I remember a school girlfriend who worked as a gardener at the park and she loved it. Going by the comments from previous posts it seems that the park has been neglected. Birmingham has certainly changed from the era I was there.

planetmalc

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Re: Ward End Park
« Reply #35 on: August 09, 2015, 02:10:00 PM »
Going by the comments from previous posts it seems that the park has been neglected. Birmingham has certainly changed from the era I was there.
 
The parks in & around central London are still beautifully manicured, because London's the only place that matters to the Westminster crowd. >:(
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4orchard

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Re: Ward End Park
« Reply #36 on: August 18, 2015, 07:54:28 PM »
What a shame ward end park has become a no go area , I spent many hours there as lad in the 50,& 60 s , it was a wonderful park  hireing a boat on the lake  etc it can only be down to the local residents who don't appreciate what a beautiful place it once was the words to the song MacArthur park was never more appropriate and Saltley and alum rock where I grew up are now places I no longer recognise
David R

josylvia

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Re: Ward End Park
« Reply #37 on: December 01, 2015, 05:14:12 PM »
It can not be all that bad,I've have been invited to join the Son's of Rest,who regularly meet in the old boat house. :-\ :-\ :-\
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josylvia

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Re: Ward End Park
« Reply #38 on: December 01, 2015, 05:16:02 PM »
Are the son's of rest still active in Ward End Park?.
I sit on the fence with a glass half full trying to be diplomatic

townie

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Re: Ward End Park
« Reply #39 on: December 01, 2015, 06:02:35 PM »
Why has Ward end park become a no go area?
Was it a vision, or a waking dream?

JudithM

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Re: Ward End Park
« Reply #40 on: December 02, 2015, 01:12:27 PM »
I think there is the assumption that if you are not of a particular racial or religious background you can't go in there.

Personally, I have experienced no problems there.  Admittedly it's been a while since I've been there but I had a boyfriend who's parents lived nearby and we would walk their dog there.  It didn't look too shabby and seemed to be well maintained.  However, my Dad had very different experiences at the time.  He lived just up the road (in Ward End Road in fact) and, as they had a rather small back garden, he'd take my little brother over the park to kick a ball about.  They often experienced harassment from youths telling them to leave, and that it was 'their' park and encouraging each other to shout out abuse and make rude gestures.  They were even spat at on more than one occasion. 

They experienced other problems in the area (such as one morning when all the white inhabitants of their end of the road woke up to find their tyres slashed), and have since moved.

It's a shame, and I think it's just down that particular kind of thuggish behaviour that can be found in any section of society.  It would be wrong to put blame on cultural or religious upbringing.  It's just bad manners.
"I know tomorrow's gonna taste like cake"

Phil

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Re: Ward End Park
« Reply #41 on: December 02, 2015, 02:17:51 PM »
Judith

Part of my youth was spent in Sparkbrook & Balsall Heath the other part was spent in Nechells but there were very few immigrants from any part of the world there, they had got more sense I suppose.

To get back to Balsall Heath & Sparkbrook, I have to say that I observed many cases of racial abuse but not by blacks against whites rather it was white people abusing blacks, Asians, Maltese and even the Irish, in fact anybody not English.  We were taught racism at school by teachers who didn't know any better because it was the way they were brought and taught that if you were not English then you were inferior.

All my working life and even still now I ventured into some of the most densely packed immigrant areas, and was shown nothing but acceptance, helpfulness, kindness and good manners and have never found cause for complaint.

I'm not fool enough to think that the sort of thing that has been complained about in the past does not occur, I'm only saying that I have never witnessed it occurring. Even when I have spoken to the older generations of immigrants they have told me that they have the same worries about their children's we do and like white families they sometimes are at a loss how to control them.
Phil died in 2020. RIP.

JudithM

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Re: Ward End Park
« Reply #42 on: December 03, 2015, 12:58:13 PM »
My mom was from Sparkhill.  My Grandad continued to live there until his death and I also used to visit friends there and never experienced any hassle or trouble.

I lived for a few years around the Lozells/Newtown area and much of the racial tension there was between the black & Asian population, and within the Asian population between Muslims & Sikh youths.  The 'grown ups' were all very friendly to each other.

I am white and I have encountered abuse towards me.  On the one occasion I was crossing the road by way of a subway doing nothing other than heading to the chip shop.  A black man was coming the other way.  As he passed me he called me a 'Honkey ***ch  wh**re'.  I had never seen this person before and had done nothing to provoke this.  It was very very random  :D

I had the great experience of growing up 'exposed', as it were, to many different cultures.  The house next to us was owned by Solihull hospital and we had doctors living there - some for a short time, some for a few years at a time (the short stays were usually doctors doing an 'exchange' stint or getting some experience of the UK system to take back home with them.  We never had British neighbours.  There were Indians, Sri Lankans, Australians, South Africans, Lebanese, Israelis, Egyptians, oh and we were friendly with another Doctor & his family who were originally from Peru.  All the kids would play together and my Mom used to learn their cookery techniques so we had a rather varied diet too  :D  It was all great fun.

As you say in your post Phil, we are all essentially the same.  We have the same needs & wants and all religions teach tolerance & kindness so I really don't get how things can get that bad that people can just dismiss someone else because of the colour of their skin or their belief system.  It completely baffles me.

My Dad's side of the family are, in part, from Alum Rock.  So Ward End for him was pretty much his Mom's 'home patch'.  It makes it seem even more sad to me that he had such trouble there.
"I know tomorrow's gonna taste like cake"

Phil

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Re: Ward End Park
« Reply #43 on: December 03, 2015, 01:49:01 PM »

As you say in your post Phil, we are all essentially the same.  We have the same needs & wants and all religions teach tolerance & kindness so I really don't get how things can get that bad that people can just dismiss someone else because of the colour of their skin or their belief system.  It completely baffles me.


Judith

Sadly I believe that religion has played a big part in most racial unrest and I don't just mean the religion of our immigrant population. We have had enough problems with our own religions here which we still need to sort out before going on to other countries faiths.
Phil died in 2020. RIP.


 

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