We are delighted to announce that the Friends of Grange Park Play Area were awarded £500 from the Heart of the Community Awards run by the Croydon Advertiser earlier this year. Elaine Hutton and Hannah Price-Harries attended the awards ceremony on 11 September 2014 at the Croydon Park Hotel as representatives of the Friends and were speechless when the award was announced- until, that is, we had to give an impromptu acceptance speech! Thank you to all in the community who voted for us!
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Our survey is LIVE on our website- please take a few minutes to complete it!
We have officially launched our community wide consultation. We have a large banner in the play area, and banners elsewhere around Old Coulsdon inviting you all to take our online survey. We need to canvas you for your views about the play area to give us the best chance of getting funding- around £100,000- to completely renovate the play area. So please take a few minutes to complete our survey.
Forthcoming community consultation
From September we will run a consultation to find out what you have to say about the play area. Do you think the play area is run down and in need of full refurbishment? We need to know how often you currently use it. What kind of equipment would you like to see? To get the funding we need- around £100,000- we need to show funders we have well and truly engaged with the whole community about their wishes for the play area, and we will be hosting a survey on our website to enable you to have your say. Every response will count! Please come back in September to complete our online survey.
We have a new logo!
Productive meeting with the Green Spaces division of Croydon Council
Today, some of the Friends of Grange Park including Councillor Chris Wright met with key personnel in the Green Spaces division of the Council. The meeting was productive in that we were able to establish what it is the Council requires of a renovated play area, and the type of support they can give us along the way. The Council are not able to fund any renovation to the play area, though there might be a small pot of money available to us further down the line. We are hoping to build a good working relationship with the Council as a key stakeholder, as ultimately, the Council as landowner will decide whether or not we can go ahead with any renovation (assuming we get planning permission and funding!)
The Friends have separately established that a complete renovation of the play area could cost as much as £100,000. We meet at 7.30 p.m. on 23 July 2014 at the Old Coulsdon Centre for the Retired to develop a strategy for reaching our ultimate goal- the renovation of the play area. All are welcome.
Our community partners at Old Coulsdon Residents Association (OCRA) organise a fitting commemoration of Coulsdon's participation in World War I
The Friends of Grange Park would like to thank OCRA for organising a fitting tribute to those individuals of Coulsdon who participated in World War I. We highly recommend a visit to the emotive exhibition they have organised, which is hosted by Coulsdon College, Placehouse Lane, Old Coulsdon, from 14th to 25th July (except Sunday) from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
In addition there is a service on Sunday 3rd August at 3 p.m. at St John's Church, Old Coulsdon, followed by a commemoration at the War Memorial at the edge of Grange Park.
