I have never walked in Wollescote Park but I certainly have an empathy with Mrs Lynn when she complains of the discriminatory grass cutting exercises implemented by Dudley Council employed there.

With my previous rescue dogs, exercising them in a park never arose,but with my latest acquisition, a small terrier that I have owned for just over twelve months and with my age in the very late seventies,Amblecote recreation ground,commonly known as the ‘ Rec’ is now the principal means of our early morning and evening exercise.

The Council cuts the grass in a similar manner,to that of Wollescote,it is not dog owner friendly, and has Mrs Lynn pointed out, it is difficult I pick up my dog’s poo as cleanly or as hygienically as you would wish.

Mary Stevens Park in Stourbridge is impeccable,or so I understand, I have not been there for years,but with the money expended on it, it needs to be. Maybe Wordsley parks are in a different league,but nevertheless I have no reason to complain as the one I have been to in Kinver Street has tarmacked paths, well trimmed grassed areas. The only apparent signs in recent moths of some improvement to Amblecote park,if they can be termed improvements, is some perfunctory tree trimming, and some laying some sort of of hardcore at its entrance in School Road. I wouldn’t put the latter down as something the Council,had an hand in, for it appears to have been dumped ad hoc, by somebody without guilt.
Nevertheless, apart from its unevenness, at least it it has done away with large puddle that occurs each time it rains that needs circumnavigating.
So why should Wollescote and Amblecote parks and ,maybe others as well in the Borough,be treated any differently in the amenities it offers to one just a
few miles up the road? I haven’t been happy at ploughing through wet long grass throughout the winter,and drying the dog each time one can do without.
If fact I thought it was me, a grumpy old sod, but with Mrs Lynn highlighting the issue it is obvious that, apart us poor souls, there must be others out there that feel the same way.
By the way,what is the difference between a recreational ground and a park? Or is the former simply anachronism?
JB Waldron
Stourbridge