Goose Green mud pit

[Gussy]

Hi all, anyone else getting frustrated with the muddy area at Goose Green playground? I go there a lot and thankfully my 2 year old has been quite good at listening to me shouting 'NOT IN THE MUD'. But yesterday it was almost impossible for me to get to her quickly enough as she was hanging off the rotating circle thing with 4 kids twice her age. I legged it around the back rather than attempt to cross the 'bog' whilst holding my baby.

So not only is it unsafe - I've seen lots of mums fall over as well as children. It's really dirty and I could do without a cold wet dirty toddler to deal with when we just popped in for a quick go on the swings.

Anyone know who I can contact to see there's a plan to improve the situation? I expect it will get worse as the weather worsens...

[Fuschia]

Post on the James Barber thread on the main board

[snowboarder]

It is AWFUL there atm - like a bog - it's ok where the plastic web matting is but that is slippy too. It also attracts little sb like a magnet, unsurprisingly...

[catgirl]

Email southwark - in fact you've reminded me that I meant to email them about the same thing.

Mind you, last time I emailed them was to ask for more frequent rubbish collections there after visiting on a sunday to find all bins full and rubbish all over the place. 4 days later, I got a reply saying 'thank - you - I've asked for the bins to be emptied which should be in the next 2 - 3 days'. I replied again to say - you're missing the point, they will have been emptied by now anywyay (surely?) - my email was asking for more frequent collections / checks on an ongoing basis. I heard nothing back.

[melbourne groover]

I did post on James Barber's thread, he was looking into it and thought there was funding to do something about it. More messages can't hurt...

[Gussy]

I've just posted on the James Barber thread so maybe he can come up with some ideas....

Snowboarder I agree that matting stuff can be very slippy when wet.

The other day I did chuckle as a toddler scootered into the middle of it and got stuck. She thought it was hilarious, but the mum was obviously fuming. The toddler refused to move, so it took a few mums to form a line and pull her out. They still all got covered in mud, whoops! Probably wouldn't have been at all funny if it was my little one!

[Gussy]

oh no, sorry melbourne groover! I must have missed it because I did say that I couldn't be bothered to read all the messages on his thread (41 pages!). Oh well, here's hoping a new prompt will help to get it sorted.

[lightweight]

My toddler just LOVES the mud there. I just take a big waterproof all in one that I put over her clothes then strip that off when we're done and head back home perfectly dry.

[ratty]

I fell over in it the other day! Felt such a fool and got covered in mud, but I am not sure what can practically be done. I'm avoiding it until summer tbh! Sore bum!

[citizenED]

Ratty covered in mud! Nice image - my 5 year old played "skirting-with-bog" for ages last time we were there. Got away with it for a long time until he finally run out of luck and slipped. mud all over brand new sweat-top.

In the summer this area lost much of it's grass - and now it's a mud-bath. The late completion date probably has something to do with it. The grass wasn't established enough before it was opened to the dance of a million little footfalls.

[Fudge]

Its such a shame the mud pit after they have improved the playground so much. I bumped into the designer shortly after they had finished and they told me that more work is planned in the playground and that it isn't all finished....yipee.

Maybe the wood chipping stuff or the soft squiggy matting would be better than the slippery green mat and of course the mud pit !

At the moment I am rather put off going there due to the mud pit which is such shame after all the work that has been done.

[Gussy]

So we are waiting to see if there will be any funding for new matting/other new surfacing....I think it will be a long wait then :(

I'd much rather see existing faults fixed before they add new things, which of course would be great, but use the money wisely!

Surely scraping away all the mud and lobbing on some wood chippings would be a good start (even if temporary), cripes I'd even do it myself if they provided the stuff and I'd happily chuck in some cash for a few bags of chippings. Here's where someone tells me about the logistics and 1000s of pounds that would cost.....