Historical Factoids 10:

[Mal]

Bit of a side view but still illustrative I think.

Gallagher Park

Back in around 2010, I think it was, the Friends of Gallagher Park were trying to get some sort of facility down there. I asked the Chair of that group, George Webster, what it was they actually needed. He told me that they wanted to see some sort of toilet facilities down there because very young lads and lasses were having to use the bushes!

I had started the Bedlingtonshire Development Trust and used that to open some doors in NCC. First I spoke to the woodlands officer and we came up with a scheme for the downhill mountain bike tracks. Once that was seen as a successful collaboration I was able to speak to and work with the NCC Green Spaces officer. I explained the problems and he agreed that was totally unsuitable. I suggested that instead of just trying to put some loos down there let’s try for a sports building which could have externally accessible toilets. He agreed and for some months we were at meetings trying to secure the funding needed, eventually we succeeded although at a much reduced level than what would eventually be needed!

When I saw the costings coming back to us I thought they were unbelievable so I went out and had meetings with a director of a large building group in Newcastle. With his help I came up with a costed alternative for a large indoor training facility, exactly what the users needed down there. I took that to a meeting at Blyth with the head of what has become Active Northumberland and the NCC councillor who had leisure in her portfolio. I was told the Leader of NCC had said there was no appetite for a large build in Bedlington. I was flabbergasted, the professionally raised costings I had were around £300K, the cost of the small pavilion we see now at Gallagher Park, at that time were between £600-£700K. I think it ended up around £800K a lot of which was the cost to get an electrical supply down there. So it couldn’t have been the financial contribution that stopped it?

There was the possibility of a lot of the playing fields down there being taken by a housing developer and we didn’t want that. We wanted to retain the open space and playing fields down there. I saw the Queen was looking to replicate one of her father’s projects and introduce some QE11 parks. I applied for Gallagher Park and we were successful in becoming a QE11 park. This meant it is protected as open green space so no development! Because of that I was asked to lead a community response to one of the awards the Fields in Trust group were doing. I entered us into the Best Loved Playing Field section and set about raising the support needed. Unbelievably we won and that award is at County Hall to this day!