A much-loved community centre in Eltham has had a makeover thanks to its volunteers, staff, housing partners and a grant from the Council.
Middle Park Community Centre welcomed councillors, contractors, residents and volunteers to celebrate the major revamp, which includes a sports area and refurbished play area, new outdoor spaces and seating as well as the start of a growing area intended to supply food to the centre and to the community.
The community centre, which has been operating for over 40 years, supports 1,200 visitors a month and offers a range of activities including full day care, breakfast and after school clubs for children as well as activities, lunch clubs, and crafts for the older and wider community. The community centre also host the Greenwich Hub, GCDA cookery groups as well as other support groups to those with additional needs.
The extensive makeover was carried out by Axis, a council contractor, as part of our £430million investment in improving council homes and community infrastructure, alongside the local volunteers.
Cllr Pat Slattery, Cabinet Member for Housing Management, Neighbourhoods and Homelessness, said: “We’re working with contractors to deliver our five-year £430 million capital programme which is helping to improve our homes in the borough.
“And as part of that we’ve also made sure our contractors deliver important social value benefits to people and communities, demonstrated by the transformative work carried out at the Middle Park Community Centre.
“We’re dedicated to making sure our neighbourhoods are vibrant, safe and attractive with community services that meet the needs of residents, and the value of this work will really help to create a lasting impact on everyone who uses the centre.
“I’m delighted to visit the centre in person and see for myself the work done to transform this important community hub and I’d like to extend my thanks to our contractors and their network as well as centre staff and volunteers who all played such a vital role in making it happen.”
The refurbishment includes a new multipurpose, multigenerational play court installed by Play Innovation, as well as improvements to the play area and the building’s roof by Grand Scaffolding and Premier Roofing. The centre now has a new accessible toilet and has been given a much-needed lick of paint donated by supplier, Crown.
To further enhance security at the centre, new fence panels and a new gate were installed along with additional security lighting at the front of the building and floodlights installed by subcontractors, Electrical Network.
Additional work was also completed in July by a team of volunteers including staff and students from King’s Oak School, who alongside workers and volunteers painted inside and out and cleared land needed in the garden to make way for a growing space.
Ben Ibrahim, Divisional Director, at AXIS said: “We are undertaking a lot of capital work for the Royal Borough of Greenwich nearby, so we were delighted to offer our support in transforming the community centre. It’s through large partnership frameworks that organisations like us are able to give back to the community. I’d like to thank our whole team, our supply chain and all the volunteers that were involved in making this happen – we feel very proud to have been a part in it”
Earlier this year, the centre was awarded funding from the Council’s Greenwich Neighbourhood Growth Fund (GNGF), which is paid for by developers through the Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) to upgrade the bathroom facilities.
Paula McTernan, Head of Business and Community Investment at Middle Park Community Centre said:
“We have been at the heart of the Middle Park community for over 40 years, a space for the whole community to meet, be supported and receive help. Everyone is welcome and we have users from 4 to 102 years old.
“We will always be grateful to Axis who have gone above and beyond to not only help us directly but by reaching out to their network of suppliers and companies who either donated their supplies and labour for free or at a significantly reduced cost. We’ve built a great relationship with them, they are really invested in what we do here, we now consider them part of the centre and we are over the moon at the work done to help renovate the centre.
“None of this could have been possible without the help of our own volunteers and staff, the volunteers and staff from Kings Oak School and the Asda Superstore in Charlton and their Community Life Champion.
“We are very grateful for the funding from the Council’s Greenwich Neighbourhood Growth Fund which helped us refurbish the bathroom facilities at the centre so that we can offer our services and facilities to more people in the community.”
