George & Friends Help Decide Where New Basketball Court Should be Installed
George Allen and his friends Andreas and Lachlan met Town Clerk, Sheridan Jacklin-Edward and Parks Manager, Karl Bishop at Makins Recreation Ground to look at where the new basketball court should be located and which design should be installed.
George put forward the proposal to the Town Council in November last year. He has played basketball since he was 6/7 and started going to Reading Rockets basketball club a year ago. The proposal is to install a basketball hoop and a 7 x 7m tarmac goal end with basketball markings. A public consultation was carried out by the Council during July 2022. The results of the survey saw 90% of the 116 respondents saying that free basketball court was needed.
The Town Council has already pledged up to £11,200 towards the project from its capital reserves. They have made grant applications to SODC Councillor Community Grants (£2,000), SODC Everyone Active Grants (£1,000) and Tesco Community Grants (£1,500).
The location decide upon is the flat area opposite the outdoor gym equipment and the group discussed the positioning of the net to take into account the sun direction.
George said, “I think we’ve found a really good place and it can be expanded in the future if needed. We’ve decided on the goose net design so we can get a bigger tarmac court and it’s specifically for basketball because there are football goals here already.”
Sheridan said, “The results of the consultation were clear that more basketball provision is needed, and that Makins is the right place for it. We’re thrilled to be progressing the project, and we look forward to finalising the designs and getting the work underway.”
