Family friendly ParkPlay launches in Beeston

ParkPlay, a new Sport England-backed charity, has launched in Beeston.

ParkPlay, which offers free, fun games and activities for people of all ages and abilities, has welcomed its first attendees at Brickfield Park in Beeston Hill, where weekly sessions will take place every Saturday morning from 10:30am. Brickfield Park is located just off Lady Pit Lane in the heart of the community. The idea for a weekly family friendly session came out of recent community consultation for Brickfield Park.

ParkPlay is an initiative which brings together local people to have fun, with activities ranging from football to dodgeball, tag to frisbee. Sessions are run by trained PlayLeaders with anyone from the community welcome to attend.

It is ideal for people looking to get moving in the new year and beyond with free and accessible fun weekly activity sessions.

Councillor Salma Arif, Leeds City Council’s executive member for public health and active lifestyles, said:

“It is really encouraging to see this new initiative set up which will help bring communities together and help us deliver on our ambition to make Leeds a Child Friendly City.

“Getting families, friends, parents, grandparents and children moving is so important. For children, getting them involved in community physical activity projects, such as ParkPlay from a young age, is key to improving their creativity skills and boosting mental health and wellbeing. I’m looking forward to seeing how this initiative develops and hopefully it can eventually become city-wide.”

ParkPlay is free and runs every Saturday morning; it’s all about helping people meet, move and play with others in their local community, with fun games for all ages, just come along and join in.

It will be back at Brickfield Park weekly, whatever the weather from 8 January 2022. Visit www.park-play.com to find out more.

ParkPlay has launched with the support of a range of local partners including Leeds City Council, Active Leeds and Elite Kids Coaching. It will be launching in two more Leeds locations soon and is looking to expand into further parks throughout 2022.

Rick Jenner, ParkPlay CEO, says:

“We are delighted to have launched ParkPlay in Leeds, with some incredible support from a range of organisations. We’re excited to get more people active and having fun in the city, including those looking to pick up positive habits in the New Year.

“We encourage those of all ages and abilities to come down to Brickfield Park and get involved on Saturday mornings. Our dream is to get to a place where there’s a ParkPlay within easy walking distance for everyone in Leeds.

“There’s still work to be done to achieve this goal, but we have high hopes, so we encourage anyone who might be interested to get involved.”

ParkPlay is recruiting. If you’re interested in becoming a PlayLeader in a park in your area, go to the Be A PlayLeader section of the website park-play.com to apply, or email hello@park-play.org.

The role is paid, part-time and doesn’t require any specific qualifications, just the skills to lead sessions and inspire people to take part.

 

This post is based on a press release issued on behalf of ParkPlay