Our Mission
There is a small Community Garden by a gym at the Lillie Road Recreation Ground that some neighbours have started nurturing. The Recreation ground is uniquely placed across the road from the Creighton Centre, which caters to many vulnerable people including those with dementia and other disabilities, and nearby to Action on Disability and Age UK. The Better gym is also associated with the NHS and provides access and support to disabled individuals.
The area around the gym has long been neglected, and there seems to be no local accessible place for these vulnerable people to meet outdoors. The park community has long catered to mainly able-bodied individuals, but the space facing the recreation ground is perfectly placed to resolve this issue. It has been suggested by carers that it would be wonderful to know that there is an outdoor space where they could meet and talk with other caters and where people with dementia felt comfortable to talk to one another. Examining their surroundings via a Community Garden is a way to bring them closer to nature, give them joy and shift their focus away from infirmity.
To read more about our mission, click here.
The initial stage of the project has been to clear an area in front of the Better Gym on the Lillie Road and begin planting. The positive feedback from the local community has encouraged us to move onto the next stage.
Phase 2: A Summer Fete on June 14th to introduce the project to the community, including music and activities. We will encourage people to sign up as volunteers for the project.
Phase 3: Project design and funding drive.
Phase 4: Building the garden.
There has been much enthusiasm for this project, including from a range of local contacts including the Creighton Centre, The Hammersmith and Fulham Dementia Action Alliance, the Better Gym and the Area's Parks Manager and Sports and Leisure Development manager at Hammersmith and Fulham council for a sustainable, well-designed space that could capture the imagination and raise up this neglected area for the community. Hammersmith and Fulham has a long history of community gardens so has built up considerable expertise which will help to advise on the project.
We have been given the go-ahead to name the garden after an extraordinary person from the local community, Dr. Jenny Rosemary Vaughan OBE.