Sports Field:
The area used to be known (and will be remembered by older residents) as The Paddock. Once upon a time, Cape Town's inner city was serviced by horse-drawn wagons that were used to cart off night soil from houses. These horses were stabled in Devonshire Road to the west of the Sports Field (the remains of these stables are still visible). Horses used to graze in a paddock when not in harness. That paddock then became the Soccer Field. Horseshoes have been discovered just below the surface in some areas of the park.Currently, the Sports Field is leased to the Queens Park Soccer Club, who do a magnificent job of providing recreational sports activities for the youth of Woodstock and Salt River.
More information will be added here as we obtain it.
Swimming Pool / Dog Park:
The old Woodstock Swimming Pool stood on the ground where the Dog Park now exists.When the land for the Swimming Pool was under discussion (way back in the 1920's), it was granted to City Council on the proviso that the facility would be for public-access.
The Swimming Pool provided a welcome respite on hot summer days for many years. It was well-run and functional, but sadly it was closed in about 2000, for reasons of financial rationalisation. The inner city also had the swimming pools at Trafalgar Park in Woodstock and another in Observatory, it was claimed, and there was pressure to develop sport facilities for disadvantaged areas that had no swimming pools at all.
At that time, certain residents in the area picked up rumours that the land in question might be scheduled for re-zoning in terms of its land usage. This would be the first step in a legal process where (it was feared) the land might then be sold off to developers. Visions of high-rise blocks of apartments rising on public open space loomed large.
These residents formed an active collective, the Woodstock Action Group (or "WAG"), to contest the potential re-zoning and feared sale of the public open space. Several petitions were launched, public meetings held and a website created to promote their aims. The petitions indicated resounding public support to retain the Swimming Pool, and for the land to remain as public open space and NOT be re-zoned.
Many schemes were then considered to try and revive the Swimming Pool. Unfortunately, while the public supported the idea of it's reinstatement, the funding for its repair, renovation and maintenance could not be found - neither in Council nor in the private sector.
Part of the problem was that, for any kind of commercial activity to be allowed to fund the Swimming Pool (such as, say, a shop or restaurant), the land would first have to be rezoned from Recreational use to Commercial. That, the WAG members held, would be the first step in the potential loss of that area as a vital public open space in Woodstock. It had to remain a recreational zone.
There then followed a difficult number of years were the Swimming Pool land and buildings, in spite of City Council's attempts to protect the area, became derelict and its facilities vandalised. Vagrants, then gangs, prostitutes and drug dealers moved in. This badly affected on the surrounding parkland, and Queens Park became unsafe even in the daytime.
Eventually, former Councillor Cedric Thomas managed to forge an agreement with City Council and other stakeholders that the rezoning would NOT take place, and that the old Swimming Pool would be demolished and the land converted into an exercise park for dogs. While it was sad for the community to lose the old Swimming Pool, at least the land has been retained as a public open space, and it is now the highly succesful Dog Park.
The removal of the "problem building" of the old Swimming Pool and the later enclosing of the park with a palisade fence had a dramatically positive effect on the area, as can be seen today.
Play Park:
While the Play Park's function as a public park was never under the same threat as the old Swimming Pool area, it was seriously affected by the crime factors at play in the derelict Swimming Pool years.During those times it was not a safe place to bring children into at all. The public toilets, and the narrow alleyway behind them, were hot spots for drug deals and prostitution. The nights were filled with shrieks and howls and other sounds of conflict (including gunshots!). Residents were burgled by thieves climbing over their back garden fences (which is still a problem in parts of Queens Park Avenue). The vagrants moved in. Litter was a perpetual problem. Even the children's swings were vandalised, and the shiny brass slide disappeared one night.
These toilets had, at one stage, the unique distinction of being the only such municipal facility with an intruder alarm! However, when the utility pole that supplied electricity to the toilets fell over one day, that was the end of that option.
One Easter weekend, the toilets were occupied by a gang who thoroughly vandalised the facility. This was a turning point. A resident unilaterally locked up the toilets with heavy chains and padlocks, and the drug deals dropped from ten to around one a day. When the Swimming Pool's buildings and vibracrete fence were demolished, this improved visibility (and a subsequent reduction in crime) somewhat.
The real improvement came when City Council repaired the vandalised toilets, erected palisade fences around the park and (later) put up a smaller palisade fence around the toilets and arranged for an attendant to be there during daylight hours. Since then, the old problems have been hugely reduced.
Further Council-led improvements included building the covered wooden Pavilion & benches, laying the Scooter Track and making improvements to the swings and slides. Visitors to the Play Park will see that it is a safe, clean place once more. Long may it remain so!
