Felix Wilson, aged 10, won the fancy dress prize with his home-made Blue Knight costume

The Friends of Stationers Park in north London have launched their new playground after a whirlwind couple of weeks.
Anyone who has organised a launch event will know the effort required, so when the Friends were given just two weeks’ notice that their project would be ready, they swung into action.

The playground – which benefited from a £49,940 Community Spaces grant – features a fort at its heart, so the Friends organised a medieval-themed event, with a fancy dress competition, stilt walker, face-painter, musicians and other attractions.

Kle Savidge, chair of the Friends group, says: “Our event was turned around in less than two weeks as that was the most notice the council could provide on exactly when the fence around the building work would come down. I think I speak for everyone when I say it looked like it had been months in the planning.

“We are now fundraising for stage two of the playground build.  If anyone has time to get involved, please do get in touch by emailing friendsofstationerspark@yahoo.co.uk 

Good luck with the next phase…

And don’t forget to let us know how your launch went… we love seeing your photographs, videos and reports.

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Hilly Fields Natural Play Area, London.

The Friends of Hilly Fields in London, who completed a fantastic natural play  project in their local park with the help of Community Spaces funding, are now using their Sustainability Grant to run story-telling sessions in the park. Which we think is a great way to get local children and parent’s involved and interested in what’s happening on the new space. You can find out more by visiting their website: http://www.hilly.org.uk/2011/06/story-telling  

If you’re stuck for ideas on how to use your Sustainability Grant – or have used the funding to do something really inspiring please join our Sustainability Grant discussion.

In the meantime – we hope the story-telling goes well for our Friends at Hilly Fields!

Fortune Green in Camden in full use!

Almost £50k of Community Spaces funding to Fortune Green in Camden, London has helped to bring the tired and neglected old green back to being a thriving hub of community activity.

Mark Stonebanks, Chair of the Friends of Fortune Green, tells us how the day went:  ”In two words ‘Big success’. We were set up by 12:30 but only the committee was there, I started to get a bit worried. I had to pop home and when I got back at 1:00pm the event had already reached critical mass, by 1:30pm we were over 200 people and we peaked at around 250. As it was a ‘Big Lunch’ event as well, people brought food to share – they were incredibly generous, and the food - four over-ladened tables of it - was delicious!  As entertainment we had a local choir come and sing ( a very local choir as they are called the Fortune Greens) followed by a show from Danny Schlesinger a balloon artist; which the kids and adults loved. It began to rain very lightly by then, but that didn’t stop us enjoying ourselves!”

Sounds like a very valuable community space has been brought back to life with the hardwork of the Friends group. Well done guys!

The Lord Mayor of the City of London, Michael Bear opened one of only 33 large projects funded by Community Spaces at the weekend.

Avenue House Estate Trust received £100,000 from Community Spaces to redevelop and restore their Victorian garden that was endanger of closing to the public.

To read more about the story, visit the news section on our website

Eastcote residents got their hands dirty in a local volunteer day last Sunday. Lesley Crowcroft, Chairman of Eastcote Conservation Panel, told us how the day went.

Eastcote Conservation Panel in conjunction with Nick Hurd MP, hosted the second Eastcote Community Volunteer Day last Sunday.

The day started at 9.30am in the rain with members of the Friends of Eastcote House Gardens setting up in the Walled Garden for the Community Bulb Plant. By 10.30 it was still raining but 44 volunteers arrived to brave the inclement weather, including Nick Hurd MP and his daughter Katie Hurd.

During a very wet morning 5500 bulbs were planted by the very willing and cheerful, if wet, volunteers in the Walled Garden and on the Rockery. Several dozen plants, grown by the Friends, were planted as well.

Another Group planted 2000 crocus bulbs at Forge Green, High Road, Eastcote.

It was a fantastic day, and it’s great to see so many people get involved. The more residents that get involved, the more pride they take over the garden. A Special mention must be made of the uniformed groups who took part, 4th Eastcote Beavers, 5th Eastcote Cubs and 6th Eastcote Cubs.

To see photos of the event and of The Walled Garden, please visit our Flickr page.

The Junction Residents Association has been awarded for their community dedication and hard work by winning the London Health Commission Award, for a Well London project.

 The Well London initiative prides projects that bring together local people to create attractive, safe, clean and healthy space for residents to enjoy.

 The group worked with stakeholders to build local partnerships and succeeded in making vast improvements to their local park. After applying for £37,774 from the Community Spaces programme, the group has turned the unused land into a playful space that accommodates people of all ages through seating, colourful planting, improved surfaces and interesting features.

To learn more about the awards and how your community group can enter, visit the London Health Commission website.

Launch event at Fairland Park

The Fairland Park project in Hornsey, London held their official opening ceremony on Sunday (18th July). The group, which received just under £50k from the Community Spaces programme, used funding to create a new play area in the park. Working with local partners and Groundwork London, the group has transformed the park with new landscaping, seating and play equipment.

Some fantastic photographs from the launch can be seen here: http://theladderopenspace.wordpress.com/2010/07/19/photos-of-fairland-park-summer-party

Hilly Fields natural play area opens in Lewisham, London.

The Friends of Hilly Fields, in Lewisham, London have successfully opened their brand new natural play area. The group secured just under £50k from Community Spaces for this project.

The site includes rocks, boulders, sand and even a water pump for local children to really get back in touch with nature.

Some great photographs of the children enjoying the new play area can be found here: http://www.hilly.org.uk/2010/05/and-finally/

The group are planning an official opening of the play area this weekend and will be entertaining visitors with a story teller and will have craft workshops in the afternoon.

New play area in Fairland Park, Hornsey, London

A long awaited play area has finally opened in the London Borough of Haringey. The Friends of Fairland Park have spent over a year planning and developing the project and finally the fruits of their labour are ready for harvest!

The new play area, which secured almost £50k from Community Spaces, officially opened its doors on Sunday 18th July.

The Friends of Fairland Park have been fantastic at keeping us and everyone in their local community well-informed about developments through their blog, which can be found at: http://theladderopenspace.wordpress.com - some fantastic pictures of the site before and after can also be found here.

Well done guys…