Sports And Recreation

fig. 13 – Demand for recreational facilities in
the parish

The simpler items, such as new seats, should be relatively easy to provide. A new village hall or a community sports centre, will obviously be much longer-term projects and require substantial funding. In terms of cycle routes, there are currently none in the parish, but contact with the National Cycle Club of Great Britain might prove fruitful.

On the matter of reopening old paths or providing new ones, we asked people to suggest where such paths might be placed. The commonest path to be reopened was the one between Parson Drove and Murrow, which has recently been addressed and is now well used. New paths seemed to be interpreted in two ways – both new public footpaths and new roadside pavements. The eastern end of Main Road, towards Church End and along Sealey’s Lane, were both mentioned.

fig. 14 – Demand for improved walking and cycling
facilities

A fair proportion (19%) answered ‘yes’ to the question, “Are there any activities that you would like to take part in but cannot?” Whilst the bulk of the reasons for this were simply that the activity was not available, other reasons that were prominent included cost, unsuitable opening hours, poor publicity and a lack of childcare – facts that any new activity might consider, when starting up in the parish.

Points To Take Forward

• Demand for some sort of health and fitness facility in the village
• Demand for tennis, badminton, football and bowls (some of which are already provided)
• More seats in public areas
• A new village hall and/or communal sports facility