Linda Massey writes how the recent improvements were brought about
Linday Massey with the Mayor at the opening of the community pavilion
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Normally at this time of year I would have been busy with the Brentford Festival but, with the uncertainty of covid, we decided not to go ahead. Instead, my team and I have had an exciting project to task ourselves with - building a pavilion in Blondin Park.
It seems such a long time ago now but in 2018 I had the idea of pulling all the user groups working out of Blondin Park together as a united front. What most said was that they wanted a roof over their head (short form for toilets) and this became our motto over the next few years.
Ealing Council were approached for permission to build a pavilion within Blondin Park. From the get-go the parks department were very supportive of the idea, helped with the design and the planning process and gave the first £50,000 to start us on our journey - the Blondin Consortium was born.
FAST FORWARD - after lots of fundraising, we now have an operational building which was officially opened by the Mayor of Ealing Cllr Munir Ahmed on Tuesday 7 September.
The interior of the new centre in Blondin Park
The desire is to have it as a community hub hence the name Blondin Park Community Pavilion. The charity, The Youth Engagement Programme, whose clients are autistic will be running the cafe which will be open 7 days per week. It is a great thought that they will be gaining work experience along with social skills. There is a large room available to hire - already bookings have been taken for children's parties, exercise classes and I guess the most novel is as a Morris dancers rehearsal space.
A Morris dancing group will be using the space
A forest school will start in October near the nature reserve, and we will be offering school children work experience including a Duke of Edinburgh programme. In addition to the football that already takes place through Footyfun4kids and Northfields Academy FC we have signed up Ealing Fields High School to use the sports ground Monday to Friday.
The cricket slip was also launched on the same day as the pavilion so next season we expect to see even greater activity.
Cricket to be played on a new pitch
Exciting times are clearly ahead. and we actively seek volunteers to help take us forward even further.
Linday Massey
Linda Massey can be contacted via email info@blondinconsortium.org.uk
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September 16, 2021