Participation in a popular parkrun has gone up by over 75% since a new all-weather path came into use which should reduce cancellations seen in past winters.
The charity which runs Ford Park in Ulverston raised £44,000 to build the new path, which opens access to the perimeter of the park to all users for the first time.
The project received £16,000 from Active Cumbria, Westmorland and Furness Council and the UK Government through the UK Shared Prosperity Fund. Other funding came from:
Ulverston Town Council Community Infrastructure Levy £11,210
Ulverston BID £10,000
Bernard Sunley Foundation £5,000
A further £1900 was raised from donations from participants of Ford parkrun and members and supporters of Ford Park.
Previously Ford parkrun included a long section on grass, and last winter the event had to be cancelled on 7 weekends because the course was flooded or too muddy to be safe for runners and walkers. Now the grass section has been replaced with free-draining crushed stone.
Jacqui Sutton-Riley from Ulverston, a regular at Ford parkrun, welcomed the new path.
She said: “Every Saturday morning I look forward to it and meet some fantastic people. With this new path, it means it can run every week, and that’s what we’re hoping for.”
Pat Thomas, one of the founders of Ford parkrun, says it has been a “dream of me and everyone else involved to have a permanent path” ever since the event began in 2018. Parkrun brings benefits to the physical and mental health of those who run or walk the 5km distance, benefits which Pat Thomas sees every Saturday morning. “It’s such a good feeling, it’s sociability, a lack of isolation. People who live alone, they come here, and they see people. They’ve done something in the day, they’ve spoken to people, and had some exercise, some healthy lifestyle.”
Ford Park’s Director Sam Ronson is delighted that so many people are enjoying the new path. “This is a community park, it is here for everybody, and we want everybody to be able to use it all year round.” The path allows access for all to an outdoor gym installed by Ulverston Town Council last year, when previously people had to cross the grass to get to it. Sam Ronson says people were using the new path before work on it had even been completed: “we had people in mobility scooters and mums with push chairs using the new path, so it was already a success before it was even finished!”
The UK Shared Prosperity Fund made £7.3 million available to Westmorland and Furness over a two year period for a variety of projects, with Active Cumbria receiving up to £266,815 towards improving the infrastructure of sports facilities. Earlier this year the council adopted its Community Power Strategy which aims to make Westmorland and Furness ‘a great place to live, work and thrive’ through an ambitious shift in its ways of working to give communities a greater say over the places they live and more influence over their lives. The vision is to help create communities which are strong, vibrant, and resilient with greater social connectedness, and which are happier and healthier with better long-term health and wellbeing.
Councillor Virginia Taylor, Westmorland and Furness Council’s Cabinet member for Sustainable Communities and Localities, said: "Westmorland and Furness Council is committed to supporting active, healthy happy lives for young and old. The Ford Park charity is to be praised for its determination to deliver this project in Ulverston, which is already bringing significant benefits: it’s Community Power in action!”
Find out more about the Ford Park path on the council's YouTube channel.