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
|