A smarter Strand-on-the-Green Rec appears on London news programme

Strand on the Green Recreation Ground in Thames Road, is looking much smarter after a big clean up by local residents. Spurred on by the glorious October sunshine, more than 50 people gave up their Sunday morning and worked hard to improve their local park. To add to the excitement of the day, ITV sent a film crew and featured the day’s activities on their prime time London Tonight news programme.

Volunteers cleared sacks full of litter and leaves, pulled up weeds, swept the playground and cleaned graffiti from the play equipment, transforming the park in just a couple of hours and showing how much this popular space is valued by the community. Park users will be reminded of the day’s efforts in the spring, when the main avenue to the playground will bloom with hundreds of crocuses and daffodils. Bulbs were supplied by Groundwork, funded by BAA.

Adding to the satisfaction of spending a morning out working in the fresh air, there was a fantastic community atmosphere, with helpers of all ages joining in and making new friends. Children were kept busy with football, face painting and a treasure hunt.

The clean up day was organised by the Friends of Strand Rec (FOSR), a newly formed friends group which is working in partnership with Hounslow CiP to clean up the park, improve the range of play equipment, plant more shrubs and encourage more community use and care of the park. CiP manages the park on behalf of Hounslow Council.

CiP fully supported the day and came along with gloves, litter pickers, graffiti removal kit and leaf blowers. They also offered health and safety and event planning advice and had two staff on hand throughout the clean up. The day was sponsored by riverhomes.co.uk.

Colette Connors of FOSR said “We couldn’t have wished for a better day. The weather was gorgeous, the turnout was fantastic and we have made a huge difference to the appearance of the park. It’s really great to see how a small effort can produce such amazing results. Our success will encourage us to press on with bigger projects in the park over the coming months. ”

The Friends held a follow up meeting on October 18 and are collating a wish list of further improvements that park users have proposed. They are, with the assistance of CiP, seeking funding to implement these ideas, and plan to hold a series of social and fundraising events in the park in the coming months.

October 20, 2005