A month ago six of us sat in a North London pub, fed up at the charges being imposed on people like us who use part of Hyde Park to play a little sport. After 10 years of playing softball we weren’t about to let it go without a fight and risk losing the community we have built, it just didn’t feel right. So we started our campaign calling on the Royal Parks to remove the fees.
We couldn’t have imagined that today, just hours before our final, over 20000 of you would be behind us. Including legendary comedian Mark Thomas, who last week joined our campaign for the world’s first ever competitive ‘What’s the Time Mr Wolf’ Tournament. Sadly nobody from the Royal Parks or Will to Win came out to say hello.
Despite the overwhelming outrage from the public, the Royal Parks have refused to budge. We met with them last week where they described the charges as fair and even competitively priced for the area. But these are our parks and we don’t think that they should be treated like a commodity to be profited from.
This afternoon David Allen Green, legal expert at the New Statesman, asks some questions of the Royal Parks policy and the process they used to come to this decision.
Once you've read it, why not share the piece with them and ask about the decision making process?https://www.facebook.com/
Tonight we will celebrate 10 amazing years in Hyde Park in what could be our last season here. If the fees remain we will be forced to break up the community we have grown and play wherever we can find a little free space. For some teams it might be the end altogether. That’s why we will keep campaigning, not just for us but for everyone who is inspired to play sport in parks.
The save our softball team.
No comments:
Post a Comment
All comments welcome - but please be polite!