HELP DESIGN A NEW PATH AND GARDEN FOR PARK’S VICARS OAK ENTRANCE
Here’s your chance to help design a new path and garden for the Vicar’s Oak entrance to Crystal Palace park which stands at the corner of Anerley Hill and Crystal Palace Parade.
Invisible Palace, who are organising the walk, say the idea to create a path and some planting to mark the Vicar’s Oak and the meeting of the boundaries is part of their Heritage Lottery Funded Boundaries project
The design will be informed by research and ideas that will come from the walk on Friday July 22nd and subsequent sessions during the summer. These will be led by a local landscape designer who is working on the Boundaries project.
The route will be predominantly in the park, focusing on the natural environment. In total there will be 45 minutes of actual walking with breaks for sketching, photography etc. Total time: Two and a half hours
The walk is being organised by Invisible Palace as part of the Boundaries Heritage Project. Meet at the information centre, Thicket Road entrance. 10.20 am for a 10.30 am start.
The path project is one of three to achieve successful bids from the Crystal Palace Park Community Projects Fund:
Invisible Palace: Boundaries Gate Footpath and Garden
The project will engage a wide range of volunteers to research, design and assist with building a heritage footpath and garden leading to the park’s Boundaries Gate inspired by a ‘desire line’ from the pedestrian crossing at the nearby junction toward the boundaries gate. The Vicars Oak which was a highly significant boundary marker, once stood at the junction where four London boroughs meet.
The panel were unanimous in their approval for this project finding it both a good, well planned application and a creative solution to modernising and improving the park landscape. Importantly the location has a very high footfall and therefore would draw people not currently using the park into it, promoting Crystal Palace Park and providing public engagement opportunities.
Sports Active Coaching Communities: Goals Through Football Project
This project uses football as an engagement tool to work with hard to reach young people in positive sporting activities. Once engaged the project will equip participants with the skills and mind set required to progress with a focus on employment and accredited qualifications. The project will provide a year-long programme in the Park, attracting up to 300 young people into Positive Activities. £10,080 was also granted by ‘Get Active Bromley’ for this project, providing matched funding.
Wide Horizons: Adventure Learning Outreach Project
This project will provide adventure learning outreach to schools within walking distance of the park. Activities will include orienteering, bush craft and outdoor team building, enhancing learning, wellbeing and social skills. This builds adventure into teaching using a vital local facility. Children will improve in confidence and benefit from being outside, increasing their knowledge of the park and willingness to use it outside school. The project will also offer sessions tailored to youth groups which will promote engagement of older young people. Wide Horizons is linked into a network of Bromley schools with an interest in Forest Schools and Outdoor Education who have indicated interest in the project, which will work with up to 2,000 individual children and young people, encouraging use of Crystal Palace Park both as an educational and leisure resource leading to appropriate increased use of the park.
Bromley council leader Cllr Stephen Carr said: “I am pleased that so many local voluntary and community groups want to get involved in putting forward innovative ideas to shape the park for generations to come.
“These projects are important to local people and complement well the other major improvements that Bromley Council is supporting in the park.”
Bids received are evaluated by a fund panel made up of a broad spectrum of local people with successful groups awarded grants to deliver specific projects and activities in the park.
Further bids are welcomed by Friday 16 September 2016 for the next round of grants. For more information please visit www.bromley.gov.uk/cpparkcommunityprojects (Sources: Invisible Palace / Bromley council press release)