Thanks to the Forestry Commission and funding from the North West Development agency, there are now two large Rockworks boulders in Swinton, Salford. The concrete boulders are situated in a small park and available for all to use.
In reply to Al Evans: Though I do notice the grafitti has already happened. Has anybody considered building these boulders with pre installed grafitti that is so good there just wouldnt be any point in the little jerks doing it?
In reply to Al Evans:
There are 4 of these in Sheffield now, one very close to Brammall Lane in fact. Great fun for a sunny lunchtime when you are stuck in the office.
But they have been graffiteed all over, I do check the holds before I use them, and you do occassionally get the local "undesirables" hanging around them.
Actually what mostly happens is that the local kids ask questions like "are you one of them free climbers ?", "do you do any abseiling?" and then burn you off in their trainers. Never had a problem, but that doesn't mean I don't keep an eye on my stuff !
In reply to james oswald: Does anyone know how you would go about persuading your council to construct such a boulder, would quite like one where i live but not sure what department to even contact
In reply to u1jd: I was thinking exactly the same thing. There is a complete lack of climbing in my area so one of these things would be great to keep up my strength while I am home from uni. Can anyone think of how to persuade their council to buy one?
In reply to rm118: I think the best thing to do would be to get a lot of people with an interest in climbing together and then take the argument to the council, i am thinking about trying it.
> (In reply to james oswald) Does anyone know how you would go about persuading your council to construct such a boulder, would quite like one where i live but not sure what department to even contact.
I forwarded your question to Lindsey Houston from the Forestry Commission. This is what she said:
"The boulders are expensive £40k up, for a good quality one (there are cheaper versions, but they are mostly play area style ones). They are however robust and will last a long, long time.
Here are a few options/suggestions, which may help in getting one built:
One is to lobby a local councillor, particularly if there is a local councillor who is interested in sports development.
Another is to find out who manages or owns an area of land and talk to them directly. It may be a local council department ( leisure, housing, regeneration or planning & economic development) or another public body (one of the Community Forests, Forestry Commission, Wildlife Trusts, etc.).
There may be active organisations working in the area with a good knowledge of funding streams & local landowners (Groundwork Trust or local action groups) who could help.
There are also funding streams available to special interest groups for sports, play, etc. An individual or group can get money, as long as they have an agreement in place with a landowner to locate a boulder."
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I would add to this that if you want a boulder with decent training potential, try to make sure climbers are involved every step of the way, especially at the design stage. Often the company responsible impresses the council with a nice looking design which looks good to the council but results in something a bit useless to keen climbers. Ideally, half of the boulder should be devoted to more challenging angles with poor footholds and a variety of interesting handholds (big and small). Otherwise you end up with something that won't get much use.
![[Right Swinton Boulder, 3 kb]](http://img.ukclimbing.com/t/113161.jpg "[Right Swinton Boulder, 3 kb]")
Thanks to the Forestry Commission and funding from the North West Development agency, there are now two large Rockworks boulders in Swinton, Salford. The concrete boulders are situated in a small park and available for all to use.
