Lightwoods Park

Lightwoods park has been around since my childhood, a pretty big stretch down the Hagley road, from what used to be The Dog Pub to the (recently refurbed) Kings Head.
It used to have a bit of a reputation, but after its revamp, its looking fantastic.
The skate park is always full of teenagers, the park with kids and theres bunch of new fitness equipment dotted around the pathways, but theres a little secret!
Up at the top end, where all the flowerbeds are, right by the bus station is hidden a secret garden; The Shakespeare Garden. Although its closed all winter, it has opening times in Summer and is truly beautiful when all the flowers bloom; great to take the kids!

This park is massive. It runs alongside a significant length of the Hagley Road. Taking you from near Quinton down to Bearwood. The Quinton end is a large and grassy playing field space, whilst the Bearwood ends has a playground, skate park, bandstand and a sad looking ruin of a manor house.
The park is always busy with local young folk, especially around the skate ramps. The upper end makes prime picnic destination on lazy summer days (there is an Ember Inn pub/​restaurant for when you can’t be bothered to pack the hamper).
The park is under the stewardship of Sandwell Council, who have made it a pleasant place to be.

In the nineties this park was heavily invested in. A new skatepark was to be built and many kids from Bearwood and beyond were excited at the prospect of a brand new concrete park at their disposal. The trouble was that the council and the builders were inexperienced at making skateparks and they didn’t think to consult skaters or to do some research.
The result was a good mini-​ramp, but into the bargain came some pretty un-​skatabale and rather gnarly banks. Some skaters got used to these steep, unforgiving inclines to a certain extent and earned badges of honour for the tricks they pulled on them.
In November 2010 Sandwell Council took the park over from the ever bumbling and ineffective behemothic out-​of-​control monster that is Birmingham City Council and the skatepark was refurbished so that skaters of more ages and abilities could enjoy it. It’s now a state of the art concrete park with hips, a bowl and a spine. All you could want in a compact user-​friendly format
Extreme sports aside, the occasional music event is held on the bandstand, usually in the Summer months.