In March 2023, the Magic Club launched Blackpool’s very first Play Street on Clevedon Road, Claremont. Play streets (or ‘playing out’ sessions) are neighbour-led short road closures, creating a safe space for children to play freely together on their doorstep and the whole community can come together.
The model was first developed by parents (co-founders of Playing Out) on one street in Bristol in 2009 and has now been taken up by hundreds of street communities all over the UK – and beyond– supported by councils and local organisations.
From the moment we arrived, with just a few skipping ropes and chunky chalk, children, young people and their families flooded the street. Quickly descending into a mass of smiley people playing ball, singing, drawing, hula hooping and scooting…..teamed with just a dash(!) of healthy skipping competition.
Children were overjoyed with the freedom they had to play outdoors,
‘This is the best day of my life!’
‘This is the most fresh air I have had in ages!’
‘Next time we can do some more skipping so I can beat my score!’
It was also a great opportunity to meet and speak to intrigued passers-by, residents of the community who’d we’d not spoken to before and calm, polite car users needing access to and from the street.
Those who stopped to chat vocalised their thoughts on the Play Street. We explained the concept of Play Streets to them and were met with lots of positivity,
‘This is amazing. I would love for this to happen on my street’.
‘Children should be able to play out. It’s a brilliant idea’.
Looking to the future, we are working with Blackpool Council to implement more Play Streets in Claremont, as well as them implementing an easy access platform on their website for residents of Blackpool to organise their very own Play Street in their community too!
Blackpool Gazette did a great video of our very first Play Street – you can watch it here.
