The Copperas Field fun day is becoming an annual event. Organised by the Friends of copperas field group who have been going for about 5 years and who work closely with the communities that border the field to help make the field a safer and more enjoyable place for local people.

Recently they were awarded funding from the Fairshare organisation to carry out an assessment of community needs on the fields and to put together a plan to improve facilities here. The fun day costs were also met through help from the Droylsden East partnership which is chaired by Cllr Kieran Quinn.

Graham Halliwell, one of the main organisers said “The main task this year for the friends group was to ask people what they want to see on the fields. And to choose their priorities from a list of options.” “To help a steering committee was set up comprising residents, local councillors and T3SC to put together a range of about 15 questions that seek to understand the needs of local people. They range from questions about placing teen shelters through to questions about wildlife sanctuaries to opinions on how safe and secure the field is to use.” The results will take a few weeks to collate and will then be used to plan activity and improvements.

Keith Crockett another friends organiser said “This year was a great success. We had wonderful weather, lots of fun events including an ice rink and a climbing wall.” ” It was a pleasure to see such a wide variety of visitors, most from around the local area, have such a great time. Our special guest this year was Deputy Mayor Cllr Susan Quinn who has worked so closely with us, and who helped set up last year’s event.”

An even bigger surprise was when X factor winner Shane Ward, on a weekend break from recording, turned up with friends and family who live locally to have a go on the events. This caused quite a stir and made an already successful day more memorable.

As Cllr Sue Quinn commented, “The friends group can be proud of all they achieved here this week. Local people I talked to support everything you are trying to do here and with this backing our ambitions for copperas field will be met in full.”

“Who knows in future years we may well have a music festival here on the field and we can invite Shane Ward back to be our headline act.”

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