TRANSFORM YOUR SPACE
Planting
a thought
It is possible for you to transform
a space in your neighbourhood
with money from a special fund
that has been helping residents
restore unloved corners and bring
them back into community life.
Councillor Mahfouz with Sim and Amanda (front row)
and other residents who have worked on the project
T
he third round of the council’s
Transform Your Space
scheme is welcoming ideas
from people, and a panel of
judges will start deciding who should
be awarded a share of the money later
this summer.
One group of residents won money
in the second round of the scheme in
late 2015 to rejuvenate and reclaim
a small area near St Mark’s Primary
School in Old Hanwell. They wanted to
make it a beautiful, communal space
for everyone to enjoy.
The small green opposite Du Burstow
Terrace was used as a walkthrough by
school children, neighbours and dog
walkers. Unfortunately, it had fallen
into disrepair and sometimes attracted
street drinkers and anti-social behaviour.
Thanks to £46,300 awarded to the
project by the council’s Transform
Your Space programme, the group
is now putting the fi nishing touches
to the area they have renamed
Katherine Buchan Meadow.
The name commemorates Katherine
Buchan, who built and maintained
four almshouses for women on the
site in 1876. Her daughter later added
another six, which remained for almost
a century before being pulled down in
the 1970s.
Stag beetles were found
16
around ealing
June 2017
It offi cially opened in April, and
Katherine Buchan Meadow has been
a labour of love for two years.
The residents have removed
broken seating and a tumbledown
timber wall buried under overgrown
shrubs; cleared sacks of litter and
discarded bottles; uprooted weeds;
and cut back unwanted growth.
In their place have come a reformed
mound, which is bordered by a re-
routed and resurfaced pathway, a new,
curved bench and the planting of a
‘pictorial meadow’ planted with wild
fl owers and framed on two sides by a
beech hedge. A circular seat has been
placed around one of the existing trees
opposite the side gates of St Mark’s
Primary School.
Meanwhile, a loggery for stag beetles
to live and thrive in has been created
in one corner – where a couple of the
creatures were found during work.