Renfrewshire Calisthenics Facility Site Proposal: Robertson Park, Renfew

Situated right in the heart of Renfrew, Robertson Park is a fantastic space for adults and children alike to get outside, relax, or have fun. With a huge skate park, animal corner, tennis courts, play areas, bowling green, sensory garden, and more, there really is something for everyone.

Of course, there is one thing missing...an outdoor workout facility! Despite the lack of any purpose-built workout equipment, there is a huge green which is very popular with people who like to exercise outdoors. In my short time living in Renfrew I have seen people running, groups football training, and even bodyweight exercise classes utilising the typical public park facilities available to them (such as park benches and picnic tables, etc.).

Sadly, calisthenics enthusiasts who like to workout "on the bar" wouldn't find much of the playpark equipment particularly useful. The best thing I could offer are the set of (what I would call) 'monkey handles' found at the biggest play area, which could be used for pull-up's and many ab-focusing exercises, as long as you tuck your legs behind you, or bend your arms at the elbow.

Robertson Park is the closest public space to my home operated by Renfrewshire Council. Obviously, due to the lack of workout options, I choose to carry out my "on the bar" sessions at Barshaw Park, in Paisley, or Bellahouston Park, near Govan (Glasgow).

Considering its location with regards to my home, it would clearly be an ideal location for me to selfishly propose a purpose-built calisthenics facility.

That said, many of the facilities at Robertson Park are in desperate need of a revamp if they are to continue to be used by the public, as well as they have been during my short time living in Renfrew. Not only that, a facility such as the one I propose would bring many positive benefits to the local area, as discussed in earlier post's.

As luck would have it, Renfrewshire Council are in the early stages of engaging with the local community regarding a rennovation of Robertson Park! How convenient?!

According to an article published back in November in the Paisley Daily Express the main areas to be improved are the sorry-looking tennis courts, the putting green (...there's a putting green?!) and the "graffiti-strewn" skate park; as far as I'm concerned, graffiti and skate park's go hand-in-hand, so I wouldn't like to see any money spent on cleaning them up, assuming the graffiti isn't just made up of poorly scrawled obscenities; I had no idea there was a putting green and I've done many a lap of the park; yes, the tennis courts are unplayable.

As well as their own suggestions the council appear to be very open to suggestions and the local community were invited to complete an online questionnaire, which I completed myself - stating the need for a workout facility of course.

There has also been two meetings in November and December discussing the revamp and the early results of the questionnaire. Frustratingly I was unable to attend either meeting due to university assignment deadlines but I will do my utmost to attend the next meeting to try and promote this project.

I have been unable to find out many details about the content of either meeting, but I have been able to briefly engage with Bridgid Corr, Development Manager at the Renfrew Development Trust (RDT). The RDT have been tasked with advertising information relating to the revamp and through my brief discussions on Facebook, seem fairly supportive of this project and its possible inclusion in the revamp itself.

Due to the compact size of Robertson Park, I don't believe it would be sensible to seek to build the larger of the two bar workout facility proposals I have previously posted about. There is already a lot going on and hopefully through the consultation process a few more facilities and projects can be unveiled and added to the ranks,

For clarity, I am proposing the installation of a pull-up bar and parallel dip station (as depicted) as part of the revamp of Robertson Park. These two pieces of equipment would take up very little space, require very little groundwork/construction, and would presumably not take up much of the budget for the revamp (approximately £1100).

The installation of these two pieces of equipment would be very popular when considering the amount of people who are using Robertson Park to exercise, despite the lack of equipment available!

If you are interested in supporting this project, or would like to know more information about the renovation to Robertson Park, please don't hesitate to get in touch!

Get outside. Build Muscle. Have fun.