Meadowside Extraordinary Park

Today we visited Meadowside Extraordinary park in Whiteley, Fareham. The playground was that good, I felt the need to do a whole blog post to do it justice, rather than just a short tweet!

We loved everything about our visit including the free parking at Whiteley shopping area (5 minute walk and very handy/useful bribery when needing to pop to the shops too!). Despite

the gloomy, black clouds, even the weather was kind to us too, on a slightly chilly September afternoon.

It struck me immediately how inclusive the park was as I spotted the wheelchair swing, trampoline and roundabout, as well as the adapted bouncers, swings and even a specialist picnic bench with a gap for a wheelchair user. Miss S and her big brother were able to play together in the park more than they had ever been able to do before. Their giggles on the trampoline and the roundabout, just made my heart burst, they finally have a playground they can play in together properly! This is exactly as it should be, able bodied and disabled children playing together and alongside each other.

Of course Miss S and Master S enjoyed exploring the playground separately also. Master S could mostly be found on the zip wire, whereas Miss S particularly loved the roundabout. A little girl the same age as Miss S came to play on the roundabout too. She looked at Miss S and asked; ‘why is she in a wheelchair’? We had a little chat, along with her Dad too, and it struck me once again that with inclusivity comes learning on both parts. 

Children are of course naturally inquisitive and are not afraid to ask questions many adults would be, and in doing so they are learning that we are all different, our abilities are all different. Children regardless of their physical abilities are desperate to play just like everyone else and it is so important they do so, in so many aspects of learning and growing, one being developing social skills. Children of mixed abilities playing together has such a positive impact and we have seen this first hand with Miss S and her peers at pre-school.  

Ordinarily when we arrive at a park, Miss S will quite quickly ask 'what can I do?' or 'I can't do anything here'. It is heart breaking and she often ends up watching just so I can let her brother have a play. Today, Miss S spent the entire visit to Meadowside playing! Meadowside playground IS extraordinary and we will now be regular visitors, but in 2019 I wish this was just ‘ordinary’, common place, not a rarity. This park is exactly what all parks should be, and I hope all will become...eventually.