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Ezra Glasstone, 11, with his sister Rachel, 7, and friend Leon Brocklehurst with Councillor Richard Watts |
Boy who’s bats about table tennis
Sports enthusiast Ezra takes his 170-signature petition for park tables to Town Hall
A TABLE tennis-mad schoolboy on a quest to bring the sport to his doorstep has taken his plea to the Town Hall.
Eleven-year-old Ezra Glasstone, who lives in Evershot Road, Finsbury Park, plays table tennis every day and wants to see tables installed in nearby Wray Crescent open space and Finsbury Park so he and his friends can play after school.
When he heard there were public outdoor tables in Germany, he collected a petition of 170 names and took it to the Town Hall asking for the same in Islington.
Ezra said: “In my school there were table tennis lessons and that got me into it.
“My friend Leon said in Germany they have table tennis in the park. I thought it would be a good idea to write so we could put them here.”
He wrote to his ward councillor, Richard Watts, to see if there was a way to have tables in Finsbury Park.
Cllr Watts said he would petition Islington Council about tables in Wray Crescent and write to Haringey Council, which looks after Finsbury Park.
Ezra, who once carved a table tennis bat out of wood as a birthday gift for a friend, said: “I took the petition to most of my friends and to Finsbury Park. Richard Watts said it was a good idea.”
Lots of his friends play table tennis. “It’s healthy. Everyone can keep fit, it’s fun and anyone can play,” he said.
Ezra’s mother, Tara Garnett, said: “He’s basically obsessed with table tennis. He makes his dad play a lot. Usually, it’s like getting blood out of a stone to get him to write a letter. I’m very surprised and quite impressed. When he’s interested in something he does it. I’m proud of him.”
Cllr Watts, who took the petition to last week’s full council meeting, said: “The Tollington councillors are working to see if we can get an outdoor table tennis table installed at Wray Crescent open space in our ward.
“It’s great to help young people to use the political process to change their area for the better.
“Ezra should be congratulated for campaigning so successfully for what he and his friends want.”
Islington’s Lib Dem leisure chief Councillor Ruth Polling has promised to try to help. “We’ve put outdoor table tennis tables in other parks and I can certainly ask officers to look at it,” she said. “It’s fantastic that he’s coming to us with direct ideas.” |
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