Wrexham Play Day with a Beach !
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I thought that the idea was to increase footfall into town & give the little ones some fun at the same time.
@dewi73 8425 wrote:
A real beach is only 35 miles away! If someone can’t afford a bus ride to Rhyl with a couple of children their priorities must lie elsewhere
Whoosh
The TCF this morning praised it ‘Fantastic’ Wrexham Play Day Praised By Town Centre Forum | Wrexham.com
One bit that was fun was that it was a sand pit not a beach due to the type of sand used!
Obviously the council spin doctors had briefed the council’s representatives before the meeting and came up with an excuse that will not be challenged in any of the local media outlets. Job done. The story has possibly died.
The day was a success by all accounts and therefore that leaves scope for politicians to take the plunge (if you pardon the pun) next summer.
Perhaps local businesses and the town forums plus interested locals should just get on with it themselves…? It seems entertaining kids brings in the footfall rather than the beach itself.
As a footnote, visited the preview day of the flower street festival of ermidas-sado in portugal today. It’s a town a quarter the size of rhos (just a population of 2,000) and the average monthly wages is 500 euros. It’s an amazing experience. It’s awe inspiring what a local community can aspire to do by joining together.
@thewayneinspain 8500 wrote:
“The day was a success by all accounts and therefore that leaves scope for politicians to take the plunge (if you pardon the pun) next summer.
Perhaps local businesses and the town forums plus interested locals should just get on with it themselves…? It seems entertaining kids brings in the footfall rather than the beach itself”
Lots of good things said in this entry. I’m glad that the day was a success. I’m also glad that so many people enjoyed the Dynamo pa at Asda. I’m looking forward to the Soul Amigos in the Memo at the end of the month- should be great.
What I’m not glad about is that some Forum members should assume that the success of an event like this should imply that there is a blueprint for the future. After all, if spending public sector money was the way to go, why not book Status Quo for Glyndwr and give 1000 people a treat.
What lesson there is is simple. The Council needs to help get events of all types off the ground. Primarily, and I repeat, PRIMARILY, events of all types need to be organised and funded by the private sector. Where the Council can PRIMARILY play a key role is in acting as Facilitator general (ensuring that events are health and safety friendly and legally compliant, whilst passing the requisite traffic orders, etc). Secondly, the Council has a role to play as that entity which can best coordinate information on events (via such things as the What’s On page on its website), which can best hold and distribute data on events (via its publications and via a long long overdue data base).
From time to time, it is reasonable for the Council to have a punt with its tax payer derived income. Such matters as Children in Need (Bryan Adams), the Year of Culture and (yes) maybe the Beach could be runners.
Councils everywhere have to balance the various bits of the equation to help stimulate a vibrant cultural scene. It will always be understandable that some will query every expenditure initiative that the Council will undertake (especially if it crashes). Councillors will have to live to learn with this and combat the Jeremiahs with facts and figures (if they can).
Let’s learn from the whole beach scenario but not draw from this sequence of events some false theory for crude future usage. Let common sense, prudence and good intent hold sway
If I am remembering correctly, I believe the original “beach” failed because funding could not be procured – I read local businesses pledged a lot as well as Eagles Meadow giving match funding.
Not sure if AlunH was implying that i think there was blueprint there. There isn’t of course, because the council didn’t put any specific ways of measurements in place to judge if the play day was a success for local businesses. Ages groups that turned up. number of families that turned up. A market reserach survey taken on the day, footfall figures, etc.
Which if course is a bit stupid, because if there was a scope argument for private business to fund any future similar events it would have been those stats.
Personally I’d like to help next year with a beach event and a few other events that could bring in cash for local businesses and increase the locals pride of the town.
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