GreenWood Forest Park

Coordinates: 53°10′50″N 4°11′45″W / 53.18056°N 4.19583°W / 53.18056; -4.19583

GreenWood Forest Park
Location Y Felinheli
Owner Stephen and Andrea Bristow
Opened 1993
Previous names The GreenWood Centre
Visitors per annum 150,000

GreenWood Forest Park (Welsh: Gelli Gyffwrdd), formerly The GreenWood Centre, is a theme park at Y Felinheli in Gwynedd, Wales. The park was opened by Stephen and Andrea Bristow in 1993 and attracts around 150,000 visitors a year.

History

After studying at Bangor University in the 1980s and working on tree conservation projects in Africa, Stephen and Andrea Bristow decided to establish an "environment education project to tell people about trees and forests from all over the world and raise awareness of the importance of forests" in Wales. They purchased 17 acres of land, opening in 1993 with walks and guided tours. Receiving 30,000 visitors a year, the couple could not financially sustain the project, especially during the winter. After raising money to build a slide, which opened in 2001, the park gained in popularity, with over 60,000 visitors that year.[1]

In 2016 the park had over 100 employees and attracted around 150,000 visitors a year.[1]

Rides and attractions

The Treetop Towers attraction.

The park contains adventure playgrounds, longbow shooting, slides, and a number of rides, among other attractions.[2][3] The Green Dragon ride at the park is the world's first "people-powered" roller coaster, powered only by the weight of the people on the ride.[4]

In May 2015 the park received £200,000 in funding from the Welsh Government for a new water ride and solar panels to generate 80% of the park's power requirements; the solar panels were unveiled in September and the ride, named SolarSplash, began construction in February 2016, opening in March.[5][6][7][8]

SwampFlyer ride

In April 2011 GreenWood opened a 145m zip wire ride called the SwampFlyer. Less than a week after the ride opened, an 11-year-old boy fell to his death after being wrongly attached to the rope.[9][10] In 2013 an inquest declared the death accidental.[11] In 2015 managing director Stephen Bristow appeared in court accused of not carrying out sufficient risk assessments for the ride.[12] Greenwood Forest Park admitted breaching health and safety regulations in January 2016 and was subsequently fined £45,000.[13]

The boy's death sparked calls for more regulations and guidance regarding zip wire rides.[10]

Awards

The park has received a number of environmental awards for its efforts to reduce resource use, improve the local environment, and support local community projects.[14] It was also ranked 9th out of all theme parks in the United Kingdom on Trip Advisor in 2014, and 8th in 2016.[15][16] Stephen Bristow, managing director of the park, received an MBE in the 2009 New Year Honours for services to the tourist industry in North Wales.[17]

References

  1. 1 2 Owen Hughes (21 March 2016). "Greenwood Forest Park was saved by giant slide and sale of 10 sheep". North Wales Daily Post. Retrieved 9 April 2016.
  2. ↑ Paul Whitfield; Catherine Le Nevez; Mike Parker (2012). The rough guide to Wales. (7th ed.). London: Rough Guides. p. 363. ISBN 1405389818. Retrieved 12 June 2015.
  3. ↑ "Awards and Recognitions". GreenWood Forest Park. Retrieved 12 June 2015.
  4. ↑ Weisenberger, Nick (2012). Coasters 101 : an engineering guide to roller coaster design (1st ed.). CreateSpace. ISBN 1468013556. Retrieved 12 June 2015.
  5. ↑ Deans, David (21 May 2015). "New water ride powered by solar panels is on its way to GreenWood Forest Park". Wales Online. Retrieved 12 June 2015.
  6. ↑ Chris Kelsey (21 September 2015). "GreenWood Forest Park unveils solar array which it hopes will meet 80% of its energy needs and save £1m". Wales Online. Retrieved 20 December 2015.
  7. ↑ Ben Butler (2 February 2016). "Work starts on SolarSplash at GreenWood Forest Park". North Wales Daily Post. Retrieved 9 April 2016.
  8. ↑ Ben Butler (22 March 2016). "Watch what it's like to ride GreenWood Forest Park's new solar-powered water ride". North Wales Daily Post. Retrieved 9 April 2016.
  9. ↑ "Greenwood Forest Park zip wire death inquiry begins". BBC News. 25 April 2011. Retrieved 12 June 2015.
  10. 1 2 "Zip wire: More regulation call after Bailey Sumner's accidental death". BBC News. 9 May 2013. Retrieved 12 June 2015.
  11. ↑ Prichard, Lorna (9 May 2013). "Boy's zip wire death 'accidental'". ITV. Retrieved 12 June 2015.
  12. ↑ "GreenWood park bosses to enter plea in June over child's zip wire death". News North Wales. 19 March 2015. Retrieved 12 June 2015.
  13. ↑ "Greenwood Forest Park Ltd's £45k fine for zip wire death". BBC News. 20 January 2016. Retrieved 9 April 2016.
  14. ↑ Alan Fyall (2008). Managing visitor attractions. (2nd ed.). Butterworth-Heinemann. p. 242. ISBN 075068545X. Retrieved 11 June 2015.
  15. ↑ Sayid, Ruki (15 July 2014). "Blackpool Pleasure Beach voted Britain's best theme park". Mirror. Retrieved 11 June 2015.
  16. ↑ David Powell (6 July 2016). "TripAdvisor finds Gwynedd tourist attraction eighth most popular in UK". Daily Post. Retrieved 10 July 2016.
  17. ↑ "New Year honours list: MBEs". The Guardian. 31 December 2008. Retrieved 12 June 2015.
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