Outdoor gym and fitness kit is to be installed at Stockhill Park thanks to a £10,000 grant from Tesco Bags of Help. This is the latest in a series of improvements for the park, which is heading towards prestigious Green Flag standard.
The Tesco Bags of Help fund distributes money raised from the 5p plastic bag charge. The £10,000 was awarded thanks to an application by local community group SALTAR – Stockhill and Ladbrooke Tenants and Residents – which campaigns for the park and surrounding area.
The new equipment will be installed from 23 January and includes a ski stepper, lat pull and chest press, pull-up assembly, air walker, air skier, rower, sit-up assembly and a table tennis table.
SALTAR Chair Angela Cairns said: “Stockhill Park is important to our community and we work closely with the City Council to improve the facilities and make it a place that people of all ages enjoy visiting. Local people volunteer in practical ways such as gardening, litter-picking and tree-planting as well as organising events and applying for grants. We were delighted to be awarded this grant from Tesco and look forward to trying out the fitness equipment soon! Thanks to all who have helped and made this possible.”
Stockhill will be the 25th Nottingham park to have outdoor fitness kit installed. The equipment will be sited in pairs in a trail around the park, to encourage people to socialise and to explore the whole park. A launch event will be arranged, with a demonstration of the kit by a qualified fitness instructor.
Councillor Dave Trimble, Portfolio Holder for Leisure and Culture, said: “Stockhill Park is highly valued by the community and it’s great to work alongside them to improve the site. Over the past couple of years a fantastic £80,000 playground has been installed and the pavilion has been brought back into use, with more investment planned soon. This is a park that local people are rightly proud of and our aim is for it to achieve prestigious Green Flag status in the next couple of years.”
A further £30,000 investment is due from money received through a Section 106 planning agreement. Local people are being consulted on how this should be spent; ideas include decorative park gates, footpath repairs, bins, benches and picnic benches, trees, and improvements to the pavilion.