Bank-holiday Monday

The banks might have been resting today but the inhabitants of this TDC block were hard at work at 9am sharp. Adults and children pitched in to help repaire the damage done by the council workers.

The problem is not solved yet but with the light rain that we had sunday even those with grass alergies were able to help.

The aim is as ever unchanged - make this a nice area for the kids to play. With this in mind office workers children and pregnant mothers all helped to make their block a nicer place to live.

Tomorrows report: the children with no-where to play

Compair this much nicer view with the pre-raked images. If the grass continues to be left uncollected like this the green areas will become nothing but mud and weeds.

The results are in! - This is some of the grass cuttings that the council contractors should have taken away.

This photo was taken when we were two-thirds of the way through the front area. Already you can see a big pile of grass developing.

The hole

see also: this post
This aptly placed beer can demonstrates the danger of the hidden hole.

Perhaps if the council does not want to fix such an obviouse problem themselves they would be willing to hand over some grant money so that we can fix it?

The Lock

This lock stood for over three years barring access to the enclosed space where 3 out of 9 of the residents "shed" space is located.

This "shed" space also houses the whirly-gigs (washing lines on a pole) and would make an great supervised play area for the younger children.

However, it was not untill one resident became so irritated with the blaze attitdue of the council (who were unable to provide keys to unlock this area) that this some-one actualy and quite permanantly "re-engineed" the rusted old lock. This provided the access that started the work documented here.

The result: Mothers from other blocks enquireing about the posibility of letting thier children play in this area, instead of thier own, as they do not feel safe "letting the kids play in our own block"

Dispite the hard work of the people of this block the sad truth is that work must be carried out that is beyond the skills reprisented byt eh people who live here. For example:

This drain should be secured in such a way that it is not a danger to children. This is the blight on an area otherwise well suited to children playing.

Gate and Fence

The "skillfull" work of the councils under paid contractors.

This gate is ment to keep our children safe

Here we see the "child friendly" and badly maintained fence that seperates residents from the road that gets very busy when people are collecting children from the school opposite.

Agenda 21

Agenda 21: "Seek to develop attractive streets and buildings and promote neighbourhood improvements "

In this aim as in so many others we are showing the rate of failure.

Even the children get involved in the renovation work.

For the first time we all began to notice how run down the area has become.

It's about time, we think, that the council stop telling us about how well they are doing and maybe... well... - do it!

As the residence continue to work two flimsy access covers are uncovered from the piles of dead grass.

As the clearing up continues we uncovered evidence of drain / man-hole covers hidden under the grass "cuttings"