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MIDSOMER NORTON LIFE
MIDSOMER NORTON GREEN SPACES
M
idsomer Norton Town Council started fresh back in May 2011. The newly elected councillors were provided with a booklet titled “The Good Councillor’s Guide”, a very useful little publication. At the back, just before the index, is a section called ‘What Can Local Councils Do?’ and it would appear from the list that we have a huge range of powers available to us and duties that we must undertake. From the very beginning we saw increasing the provision of open green spaces and leisure areas as a priority. Today, almost a decade later, the list is impressive including:
West Clewes (North Road) – The Town Council holds this in charitable trust under the West Clewes Recreation Ground Trust. It’s where Welton Rovers play but it’s also open to the general public and as well as improving the car park with new tarmac in 2011, there is a new utility block and ticket office. Improvements have been made to the children’s play area and an the outdoor gym has been installed. The Town Council also worked with Welton Rovers to replace their old wooden stand with a new one.
Garden of Friendship (just off the High Street across the alleyway from NatWest Bank) – The Town Council holds a lease from Downside Abbey on this garden. After some deliberation we decided to call it the Garden of Friendship and it is where the Wassailing ceremony starts every January; but it is also an area of quietude, where a person can take a rest in the middle of our town – sitting on the new benches installed by the Town Council. Also in here is one of the town’s original red phone boxes, designed by Giles Gilbert Scott who also oversaw the conversion of the Tithe Barn, built by Augustinian Monks, into the Catholic Church. St Chad’s Well (at the top of The Island, if one turns left and crosses the brook by the bridge there) – this area was acquired from Somervale School and the Town Council holds this in
