MEMORIES of Faringdon Road Park will be recorded at a special event on December 6.

The People's Park project will record local people's memories of the park, as well as their ideas for its future use.

A range of activities will be hosted in the former Railway Museum, in Faringdon Road, between 2pm and 5pm.

These will include a video booth for people to air their views about the park past and present.

There will also be displays of the park over the years, exhibits from the Steam archives and an opportunity to visit the Railway Cottage.

Members of the newly formed Friends Of The Park group will be on hand to take details of people's stories.

Anyone bringing photographs, maps or pictures will be able to have them copied on the day and safely returned.

All the information will be collated into a booklet to be distributed across the area.

The event is open to people of all ages and will have a festive feel, as well as free refreshments.

Faringdon Road Park was allocated £60,000 in June to make it more attractive to visitors.

The cash was given to Swindon Council by the Government's New Opportunities Fund, which supports schemes that will improve the environment, enabling communities to make them safer and cleaner.

Residents have campaigned for the changes, after the park gained a reputation for being unsafe. In the past, it has been the scene of several assaults and also became a known haunt of drug abusers and drunks.

This summer it turned its attentions to happier scenes when it hosted the GWR Children's Fete for the first time since 1939.

For information contact Paula Harrison on 01793 466418, or Martha Parry on 01793 520592.

Tamash Lal