You may ask why this has been include in the Portway Park and Ride blog and the answer is a neigbour and several members of the community have raised the question about leisure and social facilities in the area and severe lack of them, in addition to the Shire newspaper running a very good feature called "Vision for Shirehampton".
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Community, Community, Community!
I have read the 'Vision for Shirehampton' features with great interest and the sad thing about it all is that society and communities have changed over the years. There isn't the care and attention there once was. If a public facility disappears it's "Oh well" and the fire to make a stand has fallen by the wayside. And today if something is happening outside your front gate most people aren't interested. I've over heard some people say "that society is all about me, me, me!" They could be right.
There are local communities out there that have no community newspaper, no community hall, no community association to fight for their area. We are lucky. We have the Shire Newspaper, we have the Public Hall and we have SCAF. Community spirit may be on the low side and apathy about to take over making it the best gift that Bristol City Council could ever ask for, but people still write into the Shire and that gives hope. However if you are reliant on Councillors to help out, response is not very good. Gone are the days when you could rely on your local Councillor. What are they doing for Shirehampton, Avonmouth or even Lawrence Weston for example? We vote them in and we can vote them out. They all make promises. Now is the time we them.
I have lived in Shirehampton all my life and not always seen it change for the better. More flats and houses get built and we loose social facilities. Shops close and we do need a good choice to be made available and if it isn't we go elsewhere. We do not need another charity shop or an Estate Agent or betting shop. There used to be 'Scoop Away' in the village many years ago. I don't know why it closed. We used to have a Cycle and Toy Shop, a Jewellery shop and a Record/Music shop too. All gone.
The swimming baths, Robin Cousins Sport Centre, - who bought that and what will it be used for? - Groveleaze Youth Club, Tythe Barn, the old Snooker Hall, The Portway Players, all gone. And what has been put in its place? Nothing! Buildings and land in the area get sold off and it's not re-invested into the communities. Why not? Where does this money go? The Portway Players have since moved out of the area along with other clubs and groups because there is no-where to 'house them'.
What we still have in the area for the time being is "Bob's Gym" in the old Bus Station on Avonmouth Road. It has another six months lease for the moment but the planning permission for more flats on that land was turned down recently, one of the reasons being lack of flood defences. Now "Bob's Gym" is an essential facility to the area. Men and women use it and it's a wide age range. If you want to keep in shape and keep fit then it's the place to go with the added bonus of being a social place too. It is a family run business by Bob and Jayne Warren and there are many who are thankful for their help, advice and spirit they give. Bob has helped many people recover from sporting injuries, road traffic accidents and operations for example. He is helping me recover from a knee injury. In fact if "Bob's Gym" wasn't around all I would have is the physiotherapy that is being provided by the NHS and recovery would be much slower. Yes I know swimming would help but the Swimming Baths isn't exactly local is it and times aren't always convenient. Of course the argument could be join a gym like Fitness First, but membership fees and monthly fees are way beyond my budget. For "Bob's Gym" the membership fee for the year is £20 and then you pay £6.00 or session fee a week for using the gym facilities and of course expert advice is always on hand from Bob and Jayne. It is highly important that we support our local facilities and when under threat of closure make a stand against it and fight to keep them open.
We do need a youth centre for the older children and teenagers, we need facilities that we can use to keep the community fit, healthy and access to all with a social element. Isn't the Government always going on about obesity rates and healthy eating and then local Councils close down facilities. Great move! A neighbour of mine mentioned a skateboard park. Now that it just one example. However a recent political leaflet recently delivered to my home did state 'they were working on improving local play facilities'. We need more than that in Shirehampton, Avonmouth and Lawrence Weston!
I'd like to see the return of "Shirehampton Carnival" one day soon. I loved that as a child. Get some community spirit moving. Maybe the local Councillors could look into grants that could be applied for to get this going? And wasn't there a Victorian Christmas Evening done in Shirehampton a little while ago? Expand that to a weekend of activities. It's worth looking into.
And of course we have SCAF who work hard on behalf of the Shirehampton Community but how many people know what they do and what they achieve working behind the scenes. Don't they deserve more support in the future? After all a community working together makes it difficult for a local Council to break apart and do things we seem to feel we have no say in any longer.
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