Our Latest News!
The Braintree Charity Community Carnival 2022 launches!
On Saturday, we enjoyed the first and largest event seen on the Braintree Recreation Ground in many years as the Braintree Recreation CIO and Swish/People's Fibre team up to host the launch of the Braintree Charity Community Carnival. We entertained many people from the local community from a variety of vendors across the region. Inflatibles, garden games, horse riding, food vendors and even a double decker gaming bus all featured on the grounds, and we had a blast! All money raised will be split between the Braintree Foodbank and our chairty to continue to help others where we can. We'd like to say a huge thank you to the team the People's Fibre and Swish Fibre for organising the event, and 158 (Braintree & District) Squadron RAFAC for their car parking duties!
Here are a handful of picures of our first large event in a long time:
Tennis is back on the Braintree Rec... and it's FREE!
30/06/2022
Tennis is back on the Braintree Rec after several years, and in the spirit of Wimbledon, it's completely Free! With the current cost of living and in line with our charitable objectives, we want to offer absolutely anybody the opportunity to come and play tennis for free, whilst Wimbledon is on.
We only ask you to respect the courts and nets to give as many people as possible the opportunity to play. We have intensively swept the court to make it free from small stones and shards of glass but it won't be perfect so we will continue to sweep and clear up throughout this trial period. Please note rackets and balls are not included and no bookings will be taken. Please read our terms of use document for rules and playing is at your own risk, the BRCIO or BBRGT will not be liable to any injury or damages caused whilst playing on the courts.
If the trial period is a success, the nets will remain up throughout the summer. They will, however, be taken down before the winter sets in.
More memorial benches have been installed on the Braintree Rec!
30/06/2022
We are pleased to showcase our 2 new memorial benches for on the Braintree Recreation Ground. The two benches, one located off the main pathway through the Rec and the other on the far eastern side of the fields, are a very welcome addition to the Grounds. We hope to see a lot of use out of them over the next several years! For more information on our Memorial Bench Scheme, please click the link below.
Our phase 2 & 3 plans are now finalised 
05/08/2022
We have now finalised our phase 2 and 3 plans which outline the trustees vision for the future look of the Braintree Rec. Work will begin immediately and we look forward to talking you through these plans in person, at a later date on the grounds. For now, please find our plans below:
Version 4.0 of our Phase 1 plans - Saturday 23rd April 2022
An updated version of our Phase 1 (Short-Term) future plans for the Braintree Recreation Ground is now available to view under "Our Documents" section.
Version 4 includes updates to some completed and recently started projects. See red text for the updates.
Storm Eunice Damage on the Rec! - Friday 18th Feb 2022
Unfortunately, we have seen some significant damage caused by storm Eunice. The high gust's caused 2 of our very large beech trees to collapse onto the the fields.
This is also in addition to roof damage on the Boxing club building, some damage to our fences and damage to some of our newly installed trees.
Once it is safe to do so, we will assess the damage caused and create a plan for the trees safe removal. We will look in the first instance to try and reuse these trees as much as we can on our grounds.
Our first memorial Bench has been installed! - Saturday 12th Feb 2022
The first of our memorial benches has been installed on the Braintree Recreation Ground. Our first memorial bench is dedicated to Brian Lowe and we have seen many people take their time to reflect on the bench. We look forward to welcoming more applications and subsequent benches on the Braintree Recreation Ground in the future.
A huge thank you to JSF Building contractors who gave up their time to install this for us for free.
New Notice Boards have been installed! - Wednesday 9th Feb 2022
In a bid to reach those users who don't have access to internet or social media, we have installed 2 new notice boards! Information about our events and news will be displayed in there for all to see.
We have two notice boards located at our 2 main entrances. 1 up by our office at the top car park, and the other at the bottom of our fields where Julien Court Road meets the public footpath.
We would like to say a huge thank you to JSF Building Contractors who volunteered their whole day to assemble and install these for us for free.
Cadets planting a tree for the Jubilee! - Wednesday 9th Feb 2022
We are teaming up with the RAF Air Cadets who plan to plant a tree for the Jubilee. Here is a statement from the RAF Air Cadets:
"Last week we launched an exciting new STEM based project for all our cadets to participate in!
Our cadets are planning to plant 60 small trees this spring in celebration of the Queens Platinum Jubilee and for the Queen's Green Canopy. The trees will kindly be donated by The Woodland Trust after a successful application from our cadets, and will be planted on the Braintree Recreation Ground with help from the Braintree Recreation CIO!
We look forward to working with our local community on this project and providing you updates as this project progresses…
Our cadets would also like to use this as a platform to inspire others to plant a tree for the Jubilee!'
We are very excited to welcome them onto the Recreation Ground in the very near future!
Version 3.0 of our Phase 1 plans - Friday 11th Feb 2022
An updated version of our Phase 1 (Short-Term) future plans for the Braintree Recreation Ground is now available to view under "Our Documents" section.
Version 3 includes updates to some completed and recently started projects. See red text for the updates.
BOOTCAMP on the Braintree Recreation Ground!! 17/11/2021
We are very excited to announce, starting in January 2022, we have a bootcamp coming to the Braintree Recreation Ground.
We have teamed up with the extremely talented Nikita, a local PT, who will run her Stay Strong Mumma Bootcamp from the Braintree Recreation Ground, starting on 17th January 2022. Starting out every Monday, Wednesday and Friday morning from 09:30 - 10:30.
Everybody's first session is FREE!! Why not give it a try? To book on or for more information, please visit https://staystrongmumma.com or email info@staystrongmumma.com
We hope to see you there!!
Version 2 of our Phase 1 plans - Wednesday 17th November 2021
An updated version of our Phase 1 (Short-Term) future plans for the Braintree Recreation Ground is now available to view under "Our Documents" section.
Version 2 includes updates to some completed and recently started projects. See red text for the updates.
Memorial Bench Scheme Launched - Tuesday 16th November 2021
Today we are launching our memorial bench scheme on the Braintree Recreation Ground.
Have you recently lost a loved one or want to remember someone who used to love using the Braintree Recreation Ground? A memorial bench is a great way to help the grieving process as well as a celebration their life, for all to see.
For more information or to apply, please click below:
Phase 1 (Short Term) plans published - Monday 15th November 2021
We are delighted to show the local community our Phase 1 plans. These are our Short Term plans based mainly from what the public asked for on our recent survey.
These plans are related to projects which we know we will NOT have to reverse in the Phase 2 and 3 plans. The plans consist of both physical projects as well as community initiatives which we will continue to aim for more community engagement.
Please click the link below to view these plans, or equally view them under the "Our Documents" Section on our website.
We will now work hard on completing these projects, as well as continue to consult local Braintree clubs/groups as a part of our next stage of consultations to help us design our Phase 2 & 3 plans.
Every time we complete a project, we will update the document as soon as we can.
Final Instalment of new tree's on the Braintree Rec! - Monday 25th October 2021
Our second and final planting of our new trees has now been completed. We now have a total of 36 new trees around the Braintree Recreation Ground, creating 2 beautiful avenues. This week's planting included:
3 x Acer Royal Red
1 x Malus 'Rudolph' (Flowering Crab)
2 x Acer Campestre (Field Maple)
3 x Sorbus Aucuparia (Rowan)
1 x Betula Pendula
2 x Prunus Umineko
We hope to enjoy these for decades to come!
Our News Archive:
On mobile devices, slide the dates to see more.
New Tree's on the Rec!
We are excited to share with you our most recent project on the Braintree Recreation Ground. As part of the Phase 1 plans derrived from our recent survey, we have planted 24 new trees on the Grounds. There are 4 trees located on the western perimeter, 6 trees on the eastern edge and 14 trees lining the public footpath creating a beautiful avenue for all to enjoy.
The specific trees planted are:
- Prunus Umineko (White Blossom)
- Acer Platanoides Royal Red
- Sorbus Aucuparia (Rowan)
- Malus Rudolph (Pink flowering crab apple)
When the time is right, they will blossom into a stunning sight, bringing some wonderful colours to the Braintree Recreation Ground. If you have some great pictures of them, be sure to submit them to us under our "Gallery" Section! Visit there to view more picture's of the Tree's.
YOGA in the Park!
Outdoor Yoga has arrived at the Braintree Recreation Ground!
Following feedback from our recent survey, we are very excited to be working with an extremely talented (and super local) yoga instructor who is putting on Yoga classes for all abilities on the Braintree Recreation Ground. Yoga in the Park classes can be booked from the link below!
Why not give it a go!
New bins are installed...
Following feedback from the public, our new rubbish bins are now fully installed!
We have 7 bins located all around the Braintree Recreation Ground so there should be no more excuses for littering on our beautiful open space.
We'd like to say a HUGE thank you to the very local JSF Building Contractors Ltd who volunteered their time and manpower to install these bins for us, free of charge - particularly in the scorching heat we had last week.
For Locations of the bins, please press "locations" below:
Supporting the Fundraising for an AED
We are extremely excited to be collaborating with Emma Davis-Harrod in her truly inspiring work to fundraise for AED’s (Automatic External Defibrillator) across the Braintree Community in memory of her father, Trev Harrod.
We are very privileged to say the Braintree Recreation Ground will be one of the locations to receive this life saving piece of equipment and Emma has done an absolutely outstanding job in raising £1700 for this amazing cause so far – but we need your help!
We need any donation you can give to help us fund these valuable community assets – even as little as £2 will go a long way! To read more about Emma’s heart felt story, or to donate, please click the link below.
Please share this far and wide!
New rubbish bins!
You may have seen some work happening on the Recreation Ground over the last week.
Immediately following the feedback from our survey, and talking to members of the public on the Recreation Ground, it was decided we would install 8 new rubbish bins around the Recreation Ground.
We will post more information, including all locations of the bins, once they are fully installed.
Our Survey is now CLOSED - THANK YOU!
The results from our survey are now available on our website.
Now we have this data, keep an eye out on our Facebook page for further updates surrounding the future of the Braintree Recreation Ground.
Once again, a huge thank you to all of the 614 respondents of this survey.
Any questions surrounding this survey or the report, please Direct Message us on Facebook, or email us at info@braintreerec.org.uk
Football is BACK!
With the slow easing of lockdown restrictions we saw the return of Football at the Recreation Ground this afternoon.
We saw the Braintree Town Youth FC U18's Irons take on a worthy opponent as one of 3 matches we will see on the Recreation Ground this Easter weekend!
Stay safe and please follow the latest government guidelines when using the Recreation ground.
Our Survey is now LIVE!
Our survey to help us shape how the future of the recreation ground is now LIVE!
It should take no more than 5 minutes to complete and will let us hear what you have to say about the future of Braintree Recreation Ground.
This survey should work on most devices but if you are using on a mobile phone, we suggest turning it landscape for ease of use!
Please click the link below to access the survey, which will close at the end of April 2021.
https://forms.gle/cxmA21cpdNQZU1vU6
Thanks in advance for your time!
Press release - 11/03/2021 20:00
The Braintree Recreation CIO's press release to annouce the work ongoing to protect the recreation ground and addressing other concerns from the public, such as our recent pitch extension and the popular fountain near St Michaels Church.
