Come and join a Candlelit walk over the Field to a meeting at Brookes!
Meet at Louie Memorial Field carpark at 7.15
Friends of Louie Memorial Field and Copse are having a
celebration of the area on Tuesday 15th March at 7.30 pm at
Brookes Harcourt Hill campus.
Listen and talk to local experts on biodiversity, sports, local history etc.
Refreshments will be provided.
Transport will be provided from Louie Memorial Field carpark
for those who cannot walk or drive. Or go to the sports centre at the top of Harcourt Hill - directions will be posted at the entrance.
Speakers include Stuart McCarroll of Brookes Sports, Ag McKeith who writes about local history in the Sprout, Riki Therivel who can tell us about sustainability and local projects and John Thompson of the Oxford Forest group.
FRIENDS OF THE FIELD TAKE A STROLL
ReplyDeleteAn intrepid band of walkers set out from Arnold's Way by candle-light on March 15th to take part in a unique celebration of the area near to the Louie Memorial Field.
Their destination was the Sports Centre at Oxford Brookes University at Harcourt Hill where Stuart McCarroll, Sports Facilities Manager gave an update on the extensive rebuilding taking place on-site to bring accommodation and teaching areas up to date.
The Sports Centre has benefited from a very impressive upgrading of its gym facilities and local residents can take advantage of reduced rates of membership. Stuart is very keen to engage with the local community to find out what sports facilities people would like to see at Brookes and outlined possible projects.
These included all-weather turf areas for a variety of games, a close-circuit cycling track, a steam room and sauna and an ‘adult’ adventure climbing area –similar to Go Ape. The latter would be expensive but could generate income. Stuart emphasised that there was no point in making any development unless it was wanted and could eventually prove economically viable.
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Riki Therivel, who lectures in Sustainable Development at Oxford Brookes explained what sustainability means and its linkage to need and demand.
ReplyDeleteThe central question to ask about any development is is it necessary? In answer to questions on the Lime Road development, Riki said that building houses densely in urban areas would be regarded as sustainable. However, it is better still to factor in a bus route (possibly linking to Brookes) from the start so that people do not feel that they need to use cars. Riki described the way that she harvests water from her roof at home which is plumbed into the toilet and uses a wood burning fire which can also act as a stove.
This initiated a great deal of discussion on how best to develop North Hinksey as a sustainable area and the excellent example set by West Oxford.
Ag MacKeith, author of the Do You Remember slots in the Sprout, has a fantastic knowledge on this area and showed us fascinating pictures of Old Botley, long before Macdonald's and Seacourt. I hadn’t known that there was once a casino in the top of Seacourt Tower!
Ag described some of the pubs which have now disappeared. There were very striking pictures of locals celebrating birthdays and weddings at the Fair Rosamund which stood on Elms Rise and was clearly an integral part of that community before its demolition to make way for flats.
Pictures of the Skate Fete in Botley which began the fundraising for the skatebowl, opened in 1991, gave a very clear impression of a community which was enjoying working together on a project. I had not known that the wall seat by the skate bowl was beautifully decorated by one of the parents and sadly, very badly vandalised the day before its official opening.
It seems that there have been vandalism issues in the area for many years - of which the recent burning down of the dipping platform in the copse is only the latest example.
Finally, John Thompson, former Oxford City Landscape architect and founder of Forests of Oxford, talked about his work to help people to develop tree projects around the city.
John’s projects include: the Community Orchard in Wolvercote, the Botley Recreation Ground, Cutteslowe Community Woodland and Corpus Christi playing field where an eco-park is being developed and 1,000 trees have just been planted.
Asked by Parish Councillor Steve Elliott for his opinion on the management plan for our Louie Memorial Field copse, John said that it was a very eccentric plan, as producing a fen in a woodland is a difficult and potentially costly thing to do.
John felt that any development of public land should involve the people who live near it and know its history: those who visit the site every day have a stake in it and it is very important to get their buy-in.
John recommends that we visit the Trap Grounds in Oxford to see a good community project (this is something that we will arrange later this Spring).
There was discussion, too, of the very poor level of planting which goes on around office blocks and shopping centres which has the effect of covering areas with plants of low interest and value. Let us make sure that in all the developments planned for North Hinksey, our Parish and Vale Councillors seek out the best in sustainable planning and planting!
Voirrey Carr (Member of Friends of the Field Committee).