I hope you can find the time in your busy schedule to read a selection of letters written by class 6JC at St Mary's C of E Primary School, Shenfield.

As part of the Literacy curriculum the children in year 6 have been working on improving their persuasive writing techniques. After much discussion they chose a focus which they felt was important enough to write about. They have worked hard on their letters and hope that they have made their points well enough to convince you of the need for more public space in Shenfield.

At a time when the pressure on land for housing is so great the children are aware that they need to protect what they have and try to acquire more play space for the benefit of future generations. They are also aware of decisions being made about local planning following initiatives such as the William Hunter Way consultation. They feel that writing now might have more fruitful results than in the past.

I thank you in advance for your time and hope that you are able to respond in some way.

LETTER FROM KRISTEN VAN HEERDEN

I am writing to inform you about how we need more land to play on. I am a resident of Shenfield and the only places I can go to play is the Courages. There is also not enough room for housing. Surely you are aware of this lack of land. As you are part of the government I am sure you can convince the rest of the government to buy more land for a country park. There are many reasons I can come up with why we need more land.

First of all we are actually entitled to about 30 acres of land for playing and recreation but we currently only have around 6, which makes it very unfair for us. Have you also noticed that the whole of Shenfield have only 2 fields for cricket, football, picnics, dog walking and tennis. You cannot possibly expect us to use only 2 fields for all of that as there are far too many activities going on in the same 2 fields. It is far too small for 8,000 people.

Secondly I think that an extra field should be provided for dog walkers as some people are not responsible for their dogs and will not clean up after them. This leads to people standing in it and taking their time to clean it up. A large variety of people would agree with me. Because these irresponsible dog owners don't clean up it is also a hazard so you may slip in it and fall over leading to injuries.
Lastly I believe that children should be encouraged to do exercise instead of watching TV all day. Two fields is certainly not enough for all the children of Shenfield to play on and become healthy and happy. This is another reason why we need more space. Maybe you could purchase the fields next to the Courages to create a country park.

As you are part of the government I know you could make changes in Shenfield and suggest my ideas and points to the rest of the government. Surely you realise that all of my ideas could change Shenfield for the better. I hope you agree with me and can make these changes.

LETTER FROM KATY LOTHERINGTON

I am writing to you to explain why I need more space to play in Shenfield. I love playing in Shenfield, but the only place I can play is the Courages Playing Field. It is getting quite boring playing in the same place but I would love to explore a new one. As my Council leader you should solve the problem we have with not enough space to play.

Surely you would agree that Shenfield is a popular town but in the future it will be even more popular than it is today and it's already quite busy. You must understand that it won't be enjoyable crowded together will it?

The real truth is Brentwood has a lot of parks and so does Hutton but Shenfield have no country park. We just have one small park. Most people would agree that that's not fair.

Furthermore during the week there are clubs being held and in the summer the Scouts have a jumble sale which means we have no space. We have about 8000 people living in Shenfield and we have about 6 acres of playing land. It would be really lovely only about to have 30 acres. We could do this by purchasing the Blue Bell Woods or buying the fields next to the Courages that would be a great idea.

There are a lot of dog owners in Shenfield and sometimes they don't clear up after themselves which is dangerous for we could slip and when we play the unleashed dogs can chase you when you don't want them to. A bright idea is to have a separate walking field.

As my council leader I hope you'll persuade the Borough of Shenfield to buy the land for a country park. I would be extremely thankful.

LETTER FROM MAX KENNEDY

I am writing to you to inform you that there is not as much public land as we would like in Shenfield, I am resident of Shenfield and I do not believe we in Shenfield have the amount of space we would like for recreation and playing in. In this letter I will inform you why we need this space.

My first point is that in Shenfield we only have about 6 acres of land an in 1940 the government suggested about 30 acres of land. Surely an intelligent person like yourself would understand that if we only have 6 acres of land for 8,000 people then we need more land for recreation and playing in. A sensible idea would be to buy more land for us, did you know the population of Shenfield is 8,000 people and all of these people only have one solitary field to use between them.

My second point is that those of us who lived in Shenfield a lot of us have dogs, so if you brought some more space the dog walkers could use that to walk their dogs. Also some dog walkers leave behind waste so if they had their own space to walk their dogs we would not tread in waste while playing. A sensible idea would be to make a dog walking path around a separate field.

On the Courages a lot of events go on such as the Scouts jumble sale and cricket matches. An intelligent man like yourself would know if we had more land we would be able to play while all these are going on. Also on the Courages these could go on at the same time using both fields.

An important councilor like yourself must be able to persuade Shenfield into buying the field next to the Courages if you can achieve this Shenfield will be delighted.

LETTER FROM MICHAEL HEWLETT

I am writing to you to suggest why we need more space/land to play. When there is not enough space to play. I will give my reasons below.

We all know that there are around 8,000 people in Shenfield there is just enough space. We have about 6 acres of public land when we are meant to have about 30 acres in Shenfield. Surely you can find a solution to this problem by giving us more land?

The fact is that we do not have enough space to play. In the summer there are a lot of activities like Scouts jumble sale, football matches and other events, these all take our play space. Sometimes there are two cricket matches going on. Where are we supposed to play. Please could we use the other two fields next to the Courages because it will give us more land to play.

An important man like yourself must be able to persuade the council to make a country park so the children of Shenfield will have space to play. I will be very thankful to you if you could help us get the land by the Courages playing fields.

LETTER FROM AMY MASSINGHAM

I am writing to you to explain why I think we need more space in Shenfield to gather and play with our friends and family. We would like some more land, surely you notice how small the space is. The only place I can go to play is the Courages playing field and not nearly enough land for 8,000 people. As you are my council leader I am hoping you can give us some more room.

One reason why we need some more space is because the population has grown and the Courages are not nearly enough land for 8,000 people to socialise with friends and family. When dog walkers come and walk their dog on the Courages they sometimes don't pick up their rubbish. If they had their own space for us to gather around and have picnics. The dog walkers would not get disturbed.

Secondly we are supposed to have 30 acres but we only have 6. I would be delighted if you can help us buy the two fields next to the Courages like cricket, football, golf and fishing. I would be grateful if you can help Shenfield to have more land.

I would be really thankful if you can do this for Shenfield to make every one happier and healthier.

LETTER FROM OLIVER HUNT

I am writing to you to express please can we have more recreational space in Shenfield because the only space is the Courage playing field. We need places to exercise and play which I will elaborate on underneath.

Surely you would agree that Shenfield, with a population of 8,000 people, deserves more than 6 acres of land (The Courage playing field). In 1944 the Government made the Greater London Plan that said we are entitled to about 30 acres of land. But nothing has been done about it. It wouldn't be very difficult to do this surely?

A sensible idea would be to buy Hall Woods and the two fields and make the area into a country park seeing as Brentwood and the rest of the district all have one and we don't. Then dogs could be walked in a more local and natural environment.

An intelligent person like you will know that so many activities such as cricket and football matches cannot fit on the Courage play fields it is just not big enough.
An intelligent person like yourself would try to do what I have asked and then everyone in Shenfield will be delighted.

LETTER FROM NOAH JAMESON NEAL

I would like to inform you that we will need much more space for recreation in the future for Shenfield because there'll be more children who needs more space to play. Below are some reasons why we need some more space.

A good idea would be to purchase the Bluebell Woods and the fields next to the Courages and turn the field into a country park since we don't have one. I'm sure that you aware that towns around us have at least 1 country park. (Brentwood have 4!).

The next thing is the only space to play in Shenfield are the Courages. Which is 6 acres. We were promised 30 whole acres for 8,000 people. We get an even smaller amount when there's a cricket match or a Scout jumble sale.

I really hope you can provide this space and if you do, I shall be extremely thankful.

LETTER FROM RISHIBESH

I am concerned at the amount of land we have for recreation in Shenfield. You are our M.P. so you have the power to change this potential crisis. An intelligent person like yourself would understand that this is unacceptable. As you will have realised, Shenfield understand has a growing population. So we desperately need more land for recreation.

If Shenfield's population is 8,000 growing to 9,000 you must understand that 6 acres of land for recreation is wholly unacceptable. In my opinion I think Shenfield should be given 30 acres of or more land. In 1944 the Government announced that a population of 10,000 should have 30 acres of land altogether.
You could purchase the two fields adjacent to the two Courage playing fields. The fields would make a splendid country park.

Dog walkers have become a nuisance when we are playing in the Courage playing fields. The dogs interfere with our game which are playing. If we had more space, the dog walkers could be kept separate from the children' play area.

In conclusions I think that you should convince the Government to lend us more space for recreation.