The Friends of Hillside Gardens Park

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Introduction to the Friends

The Friends of Hillside Gardens Park [the Friends] is an unincorporated voluntary organisation run on a not-for-profit basis. The Friends was formed after a public meeting in June 2000. The membership list comprises 165 names and addresses. About 20 people are active on the management committee. The friends aim to protect and improve, promote and enjoy Hillside Gardens Park and Palace Road Nature Garden: to benefit the environment and to provide facilities for the recreation, sport and education of our members, the local community and the general public. Our mission is to make Hillside Gardens Park and the Nature Garden places the whole community can be proud of.

Partnership working enables the Friends to improve the facilities in the park and nature garden. Partners include: Lambeth Council - Parks Department, Cleanaway the grounds' maintenance contractor, Fulham Football Club [FFC], the Streatham Hill Community Rangers, British Trust for Conservation Volunteers [BTCV], Streatham Town Centre Office, and various funding bodies, charities, private companies and individuals. The Friends is funded entirely by voluntary contributions from the membership. We have sought and won funding from grant-giving and charitable organisations to carry out specific projects for the benefit of the park and nature garden.

The Friends are members of the Lambeth Parks and Green Spaces Forum, Streatham Festival Association, Lambeth Voluntary Action Council (LVAC), Community Empowerment Network (CEN), and the Lambeth Play Association. The Friends are enrolled as an environmental body with ENTRUST, the Landfill Tax Regulator.

Achievements

  • The Friends highlighted a major safety issue and succeeded in persuading RailTrack to install a new fence along the entire western boundary of the park.
  • The Friends organised a design-a-poster competition with local primary schools to encourage greater responsibility among dog owners using the park.
  • The Friends obtained 30,000 pounds funding for the regeneration of the sports terraces: Two courts were converted for football/basketball use and two improved for tennis.
  • Working with our football coaches from FFC and Eduardo Flores, our tennis coach, the Friends have established Hillside Gardens Park as a sports centre of excellence. The Friends intend to provide coaching free for children and young people all year round.
  • Working closely with Lambeth Parks, the Friends were instrumental in the successful 2005 project to redevelop the children's playground. The Friends raised 60,000 of the 135,000 pound overall budget including contributions from the Office of the Deputy PM and the Western Riverside Environmental Fund [landfill tax credits].
  • We have held three family fun days in the park, most recently in October 2005. The fun day in 2002 established the tradition of open-air events within the Streatham Festival.

    • Policy Documents

    Constitution of the Friends of Hillside Gardens park
    Diversity and Equal Opportunities Policy
    Child Protection Policy