AN open air adult gym could be coming to a Halesowen park if it gets enough support from a community funding scheme.

The Friends of Hurst Green Park, who have just finished painting the park’s existing play area equipment, benches and fences, have applied to the Aviva Community Funds for £25,000 to fund its plans.

However, only projects with the most votes will become finalists, so additional support from the community is vital for the plans to succeed.

Carol Hackett, chairman of the friends group, said: “We are on 891 votes at the moment and we need to reach 1,000, so we are appealing for the public’s help to get us more votes.”

People can back the project at https://community-fund.aviva.co.uk/voting/project/view/17-683 and voting is open until midday on November 21.

The park has undergone extensive redevelopment over the past 12 months, with the friends group meeting every Sunday between 10am and noon for green care works.

Residents can also follow updates from the friends group and get involved at www.facebook.com/friendsofhurstgreenpark.

Carol added: “As a group of volunteers we have just finished painting our existing play area equipment benches and fences, the blue and white fencing has been done in support of Halesowen Town whose under 12's team have made Hurst Green Park their home ground on a Sunday.

“The remainder of the fence has been painted in the Black Country flag colours – even three flags have been painted into the design. The chains run along the top and this came about after local children asked if they could have the fence painted red and black, so we thought we would take it one step further.

“We have recently carried out work on the pond at the Yates Lane end of the park. We were granted £10,000 to have the pool de-silted and bought back to being cleared as a bio-diversity project, there will also be further work to help put in fencing around the pool and create a pathway through to the main park area.”