OUR HISTORY

In the early 1970’s a group of local people identified the need for a place for local children and young people to meet, play and exercise safely. They formed a committee and applied for charitable status, in the meantime negotiating with the then GLC for space to set up the playground.

Our site was originally covered in old Victorian mansion blocks which were scheduled for demolition and our committee managed to secure a lease to use the site.

The committee also secured a grant from the Wates Foundation to build a Playhut and appointed an architect to design it. In 1976 they advertised for staff with funds secured from Southwark Council and appointed the original 2 Playworkers, one of whom is still involved as a Trustee 45 years later!

The playground quickly became an integral feature of the local community providing after school and Saturday activities and holiday playschemes. We have developed our facilities over the years with 2 extensions to our building in the early years, new play structures and an outdoor gym as well as a nature garden area with a beehive and a state of the art sports pitch. We are currently working with Southwark Council to upgrade our site after many years of hard wear and tear form our active youngsters.

Over the years, many adventure playgrounds have fallen by the wayside for a variety of reasons, but the need for them is probably greater than ever. At Bethwin we are proud to be one of the few surviving and thriving playgrounds and having recently celebrated our 45th birthday we are looking forward to marking our half century and beyond providing essential services to local young people and their families.

OUR MANAGEMENT

Bethwin is a voluntary sector playground run as a registered charity by a management board of Trustees and Community Reps which meets every 6-8 weeks. Board members have a wide range of skills and experience in project management in both the voluntary and statutory sectors and give freely of their time for Trustee duties.

We welcome new board members with an interest in developing the playground so if you are interested, do speak to our Project Manager, Stephney Bent or email us at: B.R.A.PG@hotmail.com

Our current Trustees are: Hilary Rimington, Hannah Ojo and Amy Compton

OUR USERS

• Most of our families live in the social housing estates surrounding the playground but some do come from further afield in the school holidays and on Saturdays.

• Some are the children, and even the grandchildren, of parents who used to come to the playground when they were young, and others are more newly arrived families.

• Our families come from all over the world, including Africa, the Caribbean, Latin America and Eastern Europe as well as the UK. Many are migrants or refugees and asylum seekers.

• Many of our families are on low incomes and/or state benefits working long hours and sometimes on several part-time/zero-hour contracts.

• Many of our parents are bringing up their children as lone parents.

• Health inequality is high in our community with levels of childhood obesity, mental health issues and Type 2 Diabetes being some of the highest in the country.

OUR ACTIVITIES

Perhaps the most important function of the playground is to provide our children with space to get out of their often-over-crowded flats and have space to run, climb, swing, ride bikes, meet friends, play games and generally have fun and keep fit. In these days of growing childhood obesity and mental health issues this is more crucial than ever.

Our delivery is focussed on the health and wellbeing of our young people which is increasingly at risk from screen culture, social media and of course recently Covid. As part of this focus we are offering mentoring support to young people facing difficult home lives, meditation and relaxation sessions and are also planning Yoga/ Tai Chi/ Qi Gong sessions.

We celebrate as many festivals and important days as we can to recognise the multi-cultural heritage of our families and communities and raise awareness of imp0rtant issues with our users including: Chinese New Year, Martin Luther King Day, Xmas & Easter, Eid, Chinese New Year, Diwali, Windrush Day, Earth Day, World Food Day, St Patrick’s Day, Children’s Day, United Nations Day, Jamaica, Ghana & Nigeria Independence Days and more.

We offer a wide range of activities for children and young people aged 6-16 and their families including:

• Adventure Play

• Table games

• Homework/ Reading support

• Bikes & Trikes

• Table Tennis

• Table football

• Residential weekends

• Sleepovers

• Sports & Games

• Healthy cooking

• Drama/ Dance

• Youth Club

• Pool

• Quizzes

• Community Events

• Charity events

• Arts & Crafts

• Gardening

• Music

• Tournaments

• Air Hockey

• Daytrips

• Bee-keeping

PARTNERSHIPS

Over the years we have built up a network of partnerships with a range of local and regional agencies to share ideas and work together for the benefit of our users. These include:

• Southwark Council

• Blue Elephant Theatre

• Cambridge House

• Active Communities

• Millwall in the Community

• National Lottery

• Community Southwark

• Youth Futures

• Sony Music/ Black Butter

• Local schools

• Bee Urban

• London Play

• Play Five-a-side

• London Youth

• and more