Consultation with the local community plays a valuable and important role in the development of the HoP project. Tuesday saw the first family consultation afternoon with parents and children from Liberty School in Merton. The aims of this meeting were to paint our HoP project fundraising board as well as consult on what they would like the park to do.
When they arrived we asked the children to use their imagination and draw their ideal park. The results were very artistic and we all enjoyed trying to guess what they were drawing as their maps took shape. Excitement soon took over though when they realised they could get to work painting the fundraising board, leaving their mums to chat to Zoë, our Community Projects Manager.
Zoë asked them what they would like to see as parents of children who use the park. Their ideas, together with their children’s input, formed an interesting and creative insight into the requirements and desires of the local community. As a result we are currently looking into using some of them for future events and activities at Morden Hall Park.
The parents and children seemed to really enjoy the activity, with our youngest participant (aged two) even bursting into tears when her mum told her that the painting was finished! Needless to say, several children, mums and National Trust staff went home covered in paint; if that isn’t the mark of a successful consultation activity, I don’t know what is!
