Play Time

“Parks for Play started over ten years ago,” explains Laura Watts. “I was involved with Dens of Equality, which promotes inclusion through leisure, learning and play. A group of local parents with children on the autism spectrum were having problems accessing existing leisure services and asked us to set something up with them. We began with play schemes in the community and within two years we were running sessions in Kings Heath Park.”

Inclusivity is at the heart of what they do. “Everyone is on wheels at some point in their life. If you design something around those with the greatest need, it works for everyone. It’s about making sure no one is excluded.”

Laura tells me that 40% of parents with disabled children are single, compared to the national average for all children of 25%. They need reliable, consistent support services to enable them to go to work. As well as holiday play schemes and outreach programmes, Parks for Play runs the only specialised after school club in the UK, based at Uffculme School on Queensbridge Road. 

“I’m really proud of it, but it’s also really scary,” says Laura. “We have to raise over £1000 in funding every week to keep it going. It’s a daunting responsibility, knowing that if we don’t, many parents would have to give up their jobs.”

Isolation is another issue for many parents. “If your child goes to a special school, you don’t develop that network of other local families. That’s why, for me, the biggest delight has been seeing people who live round the corner from each other meet for the first time and start to support each other. That’s the real success of what we do.”

To find out more about Parks for Play, visit their website, email info@parks4play.org or call 0121 441 4682.

Published in My Moseley and Kings Heath, June 2016.