Grand Opening Celebration 1st June 2019

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Crofton Park Railway Garden officially opens its doors.....

The day had finally come when we celebrated the hard work of many volunteers who worked tirelessly to create a more accessible community open space for all to enjoy. Hundreds of people joined the celebration event on one of the hottest day of the year. The day kicked off with our little helpers planting the hedge around the 'woodland space'. Cllr Pauline Morrison kicked-off the formal speeches before heading off to other local community events as part of the Brockley Max 2019 opening weekend.

 

At mid day we welcomed back a special guest. Our garden designer - Mark Lane joined us for the official opening. Joined also by Cllr Sophie McGeevor (Lewisham Cabinet Member responsible for Environment, Waste & Recycling, Parks & Green Spaces), the ribbon was cut to commemorate a long awaited special day.

Mark Lane highlighted the importance of nurturing small forgotten spaces like this one in Crofton Park to create pockets of greenspace for all to enjoy, and how important they are for our health and wellbeing.

.....The aim was to create different sensory zones throughout the garden where people can come and enjoy them... calmer colours slow down your breathing, your shoulders drop, and then you come to more vibrant colours that lift you up…lift your spirt. And that’s essential, so hopefully we have achieved that here.

 

Our maple tree become the 'wishing tree' for the day, with lots of beautiful messages hung up decorating the tree. Our cake stall, plant stall, Pimms bar and raffle all helped us raise just over a thousand pounds, which will go towards continuously improving the garden.

 

We had a long list of people to thank. Above all we thank our grant funders who made this all possible: Lewisham Council; The Mayor's Greener City Fund; Veolia Environment Trust; and the lottery players which allow the National Lottery Community Fund to support local projects. A huge thank you also to all the volunteers who helped on the day; to the bakers; to Sean @love_SE4 for the mic and lovely photos - which you can see via the link here. And our event sponsor - Brockley Branch of Peter James.