Beachfields adventure golf
Published
Monday 27 January, 2025
Updated
Wednesday 29 January, 2025
Help design and name the Isle of Sheppey themed adventure golf coming to Beachfields.
Swale Borough Council need your help to name and design the new attraction, which will be located alongside the extended and improved leisure centre in Sheerness as part of their ambitious Sheerness Revival project.
Beachfields Park has always been a site for leisure, all the way back in 1840’s people flocked to the beaches by steamboat.
Later a bandstand was built with performances drawing large crowds, followed by a pool, funfair, bowling green, tennis courts and there was even once an adventure golf course.
This is a small part of the wider improvements planned for the site, which includes increasing the size of, and modernizing, the GP practice, renovating the gym, creating a purpose-built space for local charity Sheppey Matters and the installation of adventure play and Tag Active.
The council also plan to create a new café and free outdoor gym along with other improvements to the public space, such as increasing accessibility.
The new adventure golf course will include 15 holes, with each being themed around something that helps make the island such a special place.
The public are being asked to suggest landmarks and ideas that are unique to Sheppey’s heritage to feature in the design of each of the holes.
There was once an adventure golf course at Beachfields, themed around the Isle of Sheppey and London, and this project wants to revive this legacy as part of the leisure facilities on offer to the people of Sheerness and further afield.
We want people to suggest local landmarks and historical events to be featured in the course design, ideas could include:
- a scaled-down replica of the SS Montgomery shipwreck as a reminder of Sheerness's maritime history.
- a tribute to the historic Sheerness Dockyard, recognising its vital role in the Royal Navy for over 300 years.
- a hole inspired by the Kingsferry Bridge, celebrating its significance as the former sole link to the mainland.
- a nod to the island's aviation pioneers, highlighting the first plane factory in Eastchurch and the historic flight of John Moore-Brabazon.
- a replica barrage balloon: A tribute to the wartime efforts to defend Sheerness docks.
Children in Sheerness will also have a chance to help design and name the course at in-person, interactive and fun sessions that will take place in their local schools.
Cllr Monique Bonney, chair of the Economy and Property Committee, said:
“The adventure golf will be a great place for friends and families to meet and have fun outdoors, yet this is only a small part of our wider Sheerness Revival project.
“Beachfields Park has been a leisure destination for more than 100 years - the beach, Aquarena pool, and funfair drawing thousands to Sheerness over the year.
“This new adventure golf course will add another chapter in that storied history.
“Our ambitious project is also aiming to improve education, employability, health and leisure on the island through the improvement of our infrastructure.
“We are increasing the size of Sheppey College, the GP practice and making other important improvements to Masters House and the leisure complex.
“We can’t wait to get shovels in the ground and see these plans, which we have worked so hard on, realized, we know they will have a massive positive impact on the lives of the residents of Sheppey.
“Please get involved in this project by helping us design and name the new adventure golf which will be coming soon to Sheerness! We want to hear any of your local knowledge and memories of Beachfields and what makes the Isle of Sheppey so special.”
Read the proposal and share your name suggestions and design ideas here.
The consultation will end on 12 February 2025.
The project in Beachfields is a key component of the council's £20 million Sheerness Revival programme - funded by the UK Government - which aims to improve the health and wellbeing, education and leisure facilities on the Island and create new employment and training opportunities for local people.
The other elements include the expansion of Sheppey College and the addition of workshop spaces at the refurbished Masters House, which have both been approved by the council.
