Bringing parks to life and communities together in thoughtful non contentious ways.
Creating tomorrow’s parks today - Parks make the very best community centres.
The Friends of Harrow Weald is a charity that aims to provide people in the community with enjoyable parks.
How do we do this?
- We do this by working towards transforming parks into the very best non-contentious community centres, for the benefit of both the environment and park users.
- This is achieved in several different ways, much like the jigsaw of life.
- To create tomorrow's parks today, with financial stability, we use a convergence of nature, technology, recycling, education and wellbeing, for humans and bugs alike. This is achieved through many conversations and the goodwill of residents.
- Who are we? We are residents taking responsibility for our own parks and area. This has created a more community minded area around parks, where people know each other and say hello.
- Parks provide a supportive space for locals, particularly if locals care for their park.
But there is still so much more to do…………
"If we, as the community don't do it, who will?"
Mixing it up within the community centre.
We all know how important it is to talk to others. Community parks create a place where many people are involved with projects, activities and community events. This creates an interaction that not only helps to blend ideas together, but helps relationships to form, opens conversations about projects, and spreads a feeling of wellbeing to all involved.
Everything in our world is interlinked, therefore allowing people to enjoy a variety of things in their own areas of interest. The most basic volunteer effort is to join us and have a drink and chat with others.
Below are some examples of the projects we have created to enable people to keep meeting and talking together.
Improving mental wellbeing
Our projects and events bring people into contact with each other, providing focus on others, and the park’s wellbeing, this has a positive effect on all involved.
Residents feel safer because they meet other locals, enjoy our activities, events, and community days, and many now speak daily with other people in the area.
Enabling community participation in the arts
This year is our 2nd Harrow Weald Festival, which includes local artists coming together to create activities in our park for adults and children.
Building on our artists’ kind goodwill for our community, we created a partnership with Harrow Arts Society and opened a gallery in our small community café.
Preventing or reducing the impact of poverty
Although we cannot help everyone, we care and support others in different ways.
Supporting marginalised groups and promoting equality
Our café offers Halal, Kosher, Meat, Vegetarian, Vegan, flexitarian, and other snacks, with the mantra that we can all eat at the same table together.
Each Sunday we meet in the park and invite prospective volunteers to join us.
Once a month we hold a super Sunday, which involves spending 2 hours in the park while everyone takes on specific park tasks. The minimum expected of a volunteer is to sit with someone and chat. On these days we provide a light snack, drinks, and treats.
Mitzvah day: We are delighted to have won an award for our first year’s Mitzvah day’s efforts. Once a year we invite people from all faiths to join forces in our park, and work for an hour, while also enjoying light snacks together. In the last two years members of churches, temples, Ismaili groups, and synagogues, worked together with the local police and formed new friendships, while completing over 50 hours of work in our park. Plans are now in place for our third year.
Harrow is a multi-cultural borough, so we are lucky enough to spend time with people from many different nations.
Supporters help make a real change.
We operate in a very different fluid community minded way.
All donations are used:
Community initiatives
Wellbeing projects for humans and bugs alike
Your support helps:
Projects
Community minded
Litter picking is one of our community partnership initiatives
Community projects
ParkLife Cafe
It would be impossible to list how much supporters, volunteers and donations make a difference.
We work in partnership with our local council.
if we don't do it who will?