We look forward to seeing as many of you as possible in the park on Saturday 7th March at 10am for the first of our monthly gardening mornings of 2020. These will run every first Saturday of the month between now and late autumn.
Please come along to support the Friends and to have fun digging, composting, weeding, pruning and generally helping to tidy up the borders and make them even more splendid. Absolutely no experience is needed and all ages and abilities are welcome. If you have some garden tools, do bring them along though we have some that we can share. Sturdy boots and gloves are a good idea, and a thermos of tea or coffee and a packet of biscuits never goes amiss! It’s as much about getting to meet some of our lovely, horticulturally-minded neighbours as it is about gardening – though many hands make light work!
Last christmas, Wendell Park Gardening Friends once again be set out its stalls at the Askew Road Library Craft Fair and the Kite Studios Winter Fairwhere we raised a very respectable £425 from the sale of plants, craft gifts and cards. This money was promptly reinvested in new planting for the spring and we look forward to seeing the new plants flourish!
Wendell Park Gardening Friends stall at Kite Studios Winter Fair 2018Frances and Caroline, Askew Road Library
CIVIC HONOURS PROFILE: Gardening friends make Wendell Park a community triumph
A good idea and a ‘can do’ approach have propelled a group of supporters of a Shepherds Bush park from sketchy concept to active community body in the space of two years.
Wendell Park Gardening Friends – winner of the ‘Improving Our Environment’ award in the 2019 H&F Civic Honours – was set up in August 2017.
It’s an independent voluntary group backed by Hammersmith & Fulham Council. Its aim is simple: improve Wendell Park for the whole community to enjoy and make the most of a treasured green space.
Having launched with the help of a successfulH&F Hive crowdfunding campaign to raise the money to replant the park’s south border, the group has gone from strength to strength with monthly maintenance gatherings, demonstrating how united community resolve can improve people’s everyday lives.
Local resident Caroline MacMillan from the Friends
“I’ve been so impressed by the work of the Friends, and the group was a very worthy winner of the 2019 Improving Our Environment section of the Civic Honours,” said Cllr Wesley Harcourt, H&F Cabinet Member for the Environment.
“This group is an inspirational template for others keen to set up their own support networks to look after and improve the community assets we all value.”
Working closely with the council has seen immediate results after Wendell Park secured Green Flag statusfor the first time ever. H&F Council’s biodiversity and horticultural officer has also been assisting the group’s endeavours.
Local resident Caroline MacMillan from the Friends said that the Civic Honour was recognition for everyone who had worked so hard in Wendell Park over the past couple of years, from the volunteer gardeners to those who have donated more than £10,000 to fund improvements.
“This is an award for everyone who’s helped us make the park even greener,” she said. “That includes businesses who’ve given us equipment; the 28th Hammersmith Scouts, who planted bulbs; the pupils of Wendell Park School; and H&F Council.”
She said that the Friends had drawn up a three-year plan of planting, including trees, bushes and plants, and set up a five-person steering committee to co-ordinate work.
A lot of non-native snowberry bushes have been dug up and replaced, while the local scouts helped plant more than 1,000 bulbs.
Volunteers gather on the first Saturday of each month, rain or shine, from 10am-noon to plant, weed and maintain the borders and beds. “Then it’s usually off to the pub,” said Caroline.
Texts and emails prompt the main core of helpers, though everyone is welcome to turn up and assist.
Volunteers gather on the first Saturday of each month, rain or shine
Improvements
“The key word is ‘gardening’,” Caroline added. “We want to concentrate on the beds. People often stop and chat and thank us, which is really heartwarming.”
Volunteers have improved the park – roughly the size of seven football pitches – creating areas of beauty, with impressive herbaceous borders which encourage insects and wildlife.
The Friends aim to be the principal forum for all park users to contribute ideas and time to broaden further the numbers enjoying the space.
Membership of the Friends is a simple one-off lifetime subscription of £5, although larger donations are welcome from those who can afford it.
Now Caroline is assisting Tim Corn who is setting up a similar Friends group for Cathnor Park.
Green space
Wendell Park, bounded by Wendell Road, Hartswood Road and Cobbold Road, Hammersmith, was established in the last years of Queen Victoria’s reign and falls within the Ravenscourt and Starch Green conservation area.
It was created as a green space to serve new roads built on church land in the 1890s.
“This is a community project, and our aim is to make the park a better place for everyone to enjoy,” added Caroline. “It’s worth the hard work digging, planting and watering to know that our efforts will be enjoyed for years to come.”
Membership of the Friends is a simple one-off lifetime subscription of £5, although larger donations are welcome from those who can afford it
We will be holding our 2019 Annual General Meeting on at 6.30pm Monday 14th October upstairs in the Duchess Pub, 320 Goldhawk Road, W6 0XF (watch this space as the venue may change!)
We will give a brief report on the year’s activities and the financial position of WPGF and try to address any queries, concerns, comments or suggestions you might have. We look forward to seeing you there.
If you are unable to attend but have any issues you would like us to raise, please contact us by email at admin@wendellparkgardeningfriends.co.uk
We were delighted to welcome two groups of Corporate Volunteers who, under the watchful eyes of idverde’s Green Space Development Team set to work on repainting the park railings by the Hartswood Road entrance. They also helped remove some of the stubborn ivy that was clinging to the railings at the back of the St Saviour’s Vicarage.
We look forward to getting involved with further teams of helpers in due course as the railings restoration project is one that will need to be delivered over the course of many months, if not years!
We are delighted to announce that Wendell Park has been awarded Green Flag status, a tremendous achievement that richly rewards all the hard work put in by idverde and by WPGF over the course of the last two years. You can read about it on LBHF’s website here
Keep Britain Tidy’s Green Flag scheme – now in its 23rd year – uses strict criteria to identify parks with the highest standards of cleanliness, horticulture and facilities.
It recognises and rewards well managed parks and green spaces, setting the benchmark standard for the management of recreational outdoor spaces across the UK and around the world.
Expert judges visit all the applicant sites and assess them against eight strict criteria, including horticultural standards, cleanliness, sustainability and community involvement.
A flagpole with our Green Flag will be put up this autumn.
The Hammersmith and Fulham Civic Honours Awards at Hammersmith Town Hall, June 12, 2019 Improving our environment winners Wendell Park Gardening Friends (L-R: Frances Stephens, Caroline MacMillan, Sarah Heaton and Simon Grange) with Cllr Max Schmid (L) and Cathy Maund of Hammersmith Community Gardens Association (R)
We’re delighted to share the news that Wendell Park Gardening Friends won the ‘Improving our Environment’ category in LBHF’s Civic Honours. The winners were announced in a ceremony at Hammersmith Town Hall on 12th June.
This is an award for everyone who’s helped us make the park even greener – the volunteer gardeners; those who’ve donated money so helping us to raise £10,000; local businesses who’ve given us equipment; the 28th Hammersmith Scouts Group who planted bulbs; the pupils of Wendell Park School and support from the local council, to name but a few.
This is a community project – our aim is to make the park a better place for everyone to enjoy. And just as gratifying as the award are the comments and compliments we get from passers-by. It’s worth the hard work digging, planting and watering to know that our efforts will be enjoyed for years to come.
