Old Dagenham Park – Heart of the Community Project (2022/23)

There are exciting things happening in Old Dagenham Park and there are still plenty of opportunities to learn what improvements are taking place, have your say, and get involved!

Our parks sit at the heart of our communities – they are good for our health, a place to connect with our communities, and a place to play. Most importantly, they are free and open to everyone.

Time and time again you tell us how much your local parks mean to you. And so, we were ecstatic when we secured £85,000 of funding for the department for levelling up to improve Old Dagenham Park.

The funding can be used for the following projects:

  • Up to £47,500 for park improvements
  • Up to £18,500 for events, activities and maintenance
  • Up to £19,000 for tree planting and related costs


We know green spaces deliver the greatest benefits to residents when they are designed using local knowledge. So, we want to make sure the changes that take place in the park reflect what residents want, meet local needs and restore pride in the park.

UPDATE

Over summer, Soul and Sound ran some yoga and circuit training sessions in Old Dagenham Park. Residents really enjoyed the sessions and said they were pushed to their limits by the instructor Toni!

See some pictures from the sessions below:

Refuge held an art session, a wellbeing session and a potluck in the park. See some of the fantastic drawings from the art session below:







UPDATE

We would like to thank everyone that responded to the recent resident’s survey. We received a total of 131 responses and some fantastic feedback and suggestions which will help inform the development and delivery of the ‘Heart of the Community’ Project. You can see the survey results here.

Some of the most popular ideas were;

  • Fitness equipment
  • Planting and biodiversity
  • Seats and benches

Our Citizen’s Alliance Network Officer will also be contacting those residents who expressed an interest in being actively involved in the project and the management and maintenance of Old Dagenham Park and associated fund raising to deliver future park improvements.

So, the next 12 months will be an exciting time for this key community park, and in partnership with residents we hope to improve the services, facilities, and environment for everyone.

EVENT

On the 18th of March 202, some local park users joined our Parks Commissioner on a walk around Old Dagenham Park, to talk about Old Dagenham Park’s potential and how residents and the council can work together to make improvements and bring new life and energy to the park. You can read about how the event went here.

ACTIVATE PANEL!

Join our Activate Panel to help us decide what activities will bring excitement and energy to Old Dagenham Park! We want residents to help us decide what new activities are funded in the park. You can read more about the activate Panel! here. If you are interested in taking part, please fill in this short form and we will be in touch shortly.

UPDATE

We have been busy planting new trees in Old Dagenham Park. You can see where the new trees have been planted in the red in the map below:



Background

The Council is in receipt of funding (£85,000) from the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities’ Levelling Up Park's Fund.

This funding is available to support the refurbishment of parks and can be used for three different types of projects

  • Up to £47,500 for park improvements
  • Up to £18,500 for events, activities and maintenance
  • Up to £19,000 for tree planting and related costs

We want to make sure that this funding is used to support and deliver improvements to Old Dagenham Park that meet local needs and restore pride in the park.





There are exciting things happening in Old Dagenham Park and there are still plenty of opportunities to learn what improvements are taking place, have your say, and get involved!

Our parks sit at the heart of our communities – they are good for our health, a place to connect with our communities, and a place to play. Most importantly, they are free and open to everyone.

Time and time again you tell us how much your local parks mean to you. And so, we were ecstatic when we secured £85,000 of funding for the department for levelling up to improve Old Dagenham Park.

The funding can be used for the following projects:

  • Up to £47,500 for park improvements
  • Up to £18,500 for events, activities and maintenance
  • Up to £19,000 for tree planting and related costs


We know green spaces deliver the greatest benefits to residents when they are designed using local knowledge. So, we want to make sure the changes that take place in the park reflect what residents want, meet local needs and restore pride in the park.

UPDATE

Over summer, Soul and Sound ran some yoga and circuit training sessions in Old Dagenham Park. Residents really enjoyed the sessions and said they were pushed to their limits by the instructor Toni!

See some pictures from the sessions below:

Refuge held an art session, a wellbeing session and a potluck in the park. See some of the fantastic drawings from the art session below:







UPDATE

We would like to thank everyone that responded to the recent resident’s survey. We received a total of 131 responses and some fantastic feedback and suggestions which will help inform the development and delivery of the ‘Heart of the Community’ Project. You can see the survey results here.

Some of the most popular ideas were;

  • Fitness equipment
  • Planting and biodiversity
  • Seats and benches

Our Citizen’s Alliance Network Officer will also be contacting those residents who expressed an interest in being actively involved in the project and the management and maintenance of Old Dagenham Park and associated fund raising to deliver future park improvements.

So, the next 12 months will be an exciting time for this key community park, and in partnership with residents we hope to improve the services, facilities, and environment for everyone.

EVENT

On the 18th of March 202, some local park users joined our Parks Commissioner on a walk around Old Dagenham Park, to talk about Old Dagenham Park’s potential and how residents and the council can work together to make improvements and bring new life and energy to the park. You can read about how the event went here.

ACTIVATE PANEL!

Join our Activate Panel to help us decide what activities will bring excitement and energy to Old Dagenham Park! We want residents to help us decide what new activities are funded in the park. You can read more about the activate Panel! here. If you are interested in taking part, please fill in this short form and we will be in touch shortly.

UPDATE

We have been busy planting new trees in Old Dagenham Park. You can see where the new trees have been planted in the red in the map below:



Background

The Council is in receipt of funding (£85,000) from the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities’ Levelling Up Park's Fund.

This funding is available to support the refurbishment of parks and can be used for three different types of projects

  • Up to £47,500 for park improvements
  • Up to £18,500 for events, activities and maintenance
  • Up to £19,000 for tree planting and related costs

We want to make sure that this funding is used to support and deliver improvements to Old Dagenham Park that meet local needs and restore pride in the park.





  • Join the Friends of Old Dagenham Park!

    04 Apr 2023

    Click here(External link) to join the Facebook page

    Back in November, we got in touch with people who use Old Dagenham Park to see what changes they want to see and how they wanted to contribute to the park’s improvement. Thirty-Seven of you told us that you wanted to join a Friends of Old Dagenham Park Group!

    Some ideas people have already shared for what Friends of Old Dagenham Park might get up to includes bulb planting, sharing photos of the park on Facebook, and organising a silent cinema.

    Join the Facebook page to connect with other park users, post photos from long strolls through the park, and share ideas for how we can all work together to help Old Dagenham Park achieve it’s potential!

  • Activate Panel!

    21 Mar 2023

    Join our Activate Panel! to help us decide what activities will bring excitement and energy to Old Dagenham Park! We want residents to help us decide what new activities are funded in the park. If you are interested in taking part, please fill in this short form and we will be in touch shortly.

    As you know, Old Dagenham Park has received £85,000 of funding from the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) and the Levelling Up Parks Fund (LUPF). A pot of £18,500 of this funding is for events, activities, and maintenance.

    As local park users, you know what events and activities will attract people to the park, make it a more welcoming place for everyone in your community, and bring a new lease of life and enthusiasm to Old Dagenham Park.

    We therefore want to put you in the driving seat and let you decide how some of this funding is spent. We will be bringing together a group of local park user to form the Activate Panel!. This panel will be asked to score potential events and activities according to which ones are likely to have the most positive impact on the park and the local community – we will provide the Activate Panel! with training to help them do this. The highest scoring events and activities will receive funding.

    Activate Panel! members will need to attend a full day’s Activate It! session where they will receive some training, find out about what events and activities could take place in the park, and work together to decide what events and activities receive funding.

    If you are interested in taking part in the Activate Panel, please express interest by filling out this form here.

  • Your Park Your Voice Event!

    21 Mar 2023

    Thanks to everyone who came along to our event on Saturday – we had a fantastic and lively discussion about Old Dagenham Park’s potential and how residents and the council can work together to make improvements and bring new life and energy to the park.

    We spoke about the results from the survey we conducted at the end of last year and how we plan to turn what residents have told us into reality – by installing outdoor gym equipment, improving the multi-use games courts, adding new seats and benches, and improving the park’s biodiversity. Attendees told us what gym equipment they wanted to see, where they wanted to see new footpaths and where they wanted new benches to go. If you weren’t able to join and want to share your ideas, add them to our ideas board here.

    We were joined by Laura Collins, who works for Go Parks London, and had a great chat about starting a Friends of Old Dagenham Park group. Laura spoke about her experience of setting up her own friends group in her local park and shared some great advice, including:

    • Making sure you can keep in touch by setting up a Facebook page or a WhatsApp group of local park users
    • Building an email list of people who are interested in your group which can be handy for sending out notices of meetings, upcoming events and for fundraising
    • Starting slow and building your activities over time as your group expands. Laura gave some examples of the events and activities her own Friends of the Park group have organised, including regular gardening sessions, bake sales, and an outdoor cinema!

    Attendees shared their ideas for how they might be able to contribute to the park’s improvement. Amongst the great ideas were activities/artwork to encourage kids to use litter bins and taking drone videos of the park as improvement go in to show how it has changed. If you weren’t able to join but have some ideas for how you want to get involved, add them to our ideas board here!

    Finally, we spoke about what events and activities people want to see in the park.

    As local park users, you know what events and activities will attract people to the park, make it a more welcoming place for everyone in your community, and bring a new lease of life and enthusiasm to Old Dagenham Park. And so, we will be bringing together a group of local park user to form the Activate Panel! who will help us decide what events and activities will have the most positive impact on the park and the local community.

    If you are interested in taking part in the Activate Panel, please express interest by filling out this form here.

    You can also sign up to our Old Dagenham Park ‘Heart of the Community’ project on the Citizens Alliance Network website here to stay updated.

Page last updated: 06 Mar 2024, 08:24 AM