Happy Hood Issue 26 - What My Park Means To Me

Description

The below article was written by Declan Ryan for publication in the Happy Hood magazine.

What my park means to me

“Oh hey, I was just saying before we bumped into you, it’s hard to believe that the town centre is just there. You just feel you are in the middle of nowhere… You just feel you’ve had a bit of a break from the world when you come and walk round here and then go back again.

I think spaces like this are invaluable, just to allow people a space to breath. Without it I’d be sitting in front of a telly, my health would deteriorate rapidly. It’s better than the NHS in terms of what it gives you and it doesn’t ask for anything back either, just respect it. I walk along and I talk to the birds, and they sing to you, and I’ll say ‘Thanks’ and move on. I just love it here.

And not only that, I lost my partner nearly five years ago and because they always used to walk over here with the dogs, they were really supportive. The dog walkers were really supportive when I lost them… So that’s another side of it, as well as having a nice park because of the friends of the park, you also make friends with other people that use this park.

It is community, very much so. And if you are on your own and you start talking to people, for some people that may be the only person they’ve spoken to today. Feeling open enough and the ability to just talk to anybody. Yes, it’s a really friendly group over here, so that’s why I tend to use this park. But wherever we walk… It’s just therapy… like counselling… It’s just the company and we always say ‘hello’ to everybody, even if they don’t want to say ‘hello’ back. We just try and go round and spread a bit of happiness… these parks really are the lungs of the community.”

This commentary is a collection of quotes from interviews we conducted with 66 people as we walked with them through three parks in Northampton. With parks being used as a source of wellbeing in national agendas, we have been sharing these community voices with West Northants Council to show them the true value of our parks for residents. You can read our full article at Northampton’s Active Quarter website: https://activequarter-nn.co.uk/research/

Period	1 Apr 2025
Work for	Happy Hood, United Kingdom
Degree of Recognition	Local