Some of our latest news and achievements.
Interest has been shown in Penge Green Gym both locally, nationally and internationally.
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Don’t miss our 2023 OPEN DAY!
Sunday June 4th in WINSFORD GARDENS
11 am – 3 pm
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Penge Green Gym Mobile Journalism Project
Last week we were visited by Ivaylo Statelov who made some video interviews of us working in Winsford Gardens for a mobile journalism project for the South East Londoner online newspaper. You can watch his report on YouTube here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5egNY032l6A
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The Queen’s Green Canopy
The Queen’s Green Canopy (QGC) initiative was a nationwide initiative created to mark the Platinum Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II in 2022. In late September we attended an award ceremony where we were gifted a tree to plant in Winsford Gardens.
We planted the multi-stemmed Silver Birch (Betula pendula) in early October 2022.
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Thanks to everyone who voted for us!
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Community Green Flag Award 2021
This is the 25th year of the green flag award, their silver anniversary.
WINNER
Winsford Gardens won the award for a 7th consecutive year with the highest score possible 80+%
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LONDON IN BLOOM 2021
Best Ecological Garden
SILVER GILT Award
In Your Neighbourhood Competition
OUTSTANDING
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Cultivation Street 2021
Best Community Garden Award 2nd place
Win £500 prize and a hamper of Miracle-Gro goodies.
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Penge Green Gym celebrates 10 years in 2021
We held many celebrations to mark the achievement of our 10th anniversary.
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TCV Hero Awards
Two of our Penge Green Gym volunteers represented us at the Conservation Volunteer Hero Awards on Tuesday 23rd October at City Hall, London and received a Special Recognition Award.
Congratulations also to the Conservation Volunteers who are celebrating their 60th Birthday this year.
Also thanks to the Postcode Lottery, whose support pays for the web hosting of this website, among other things.
Link to the Bromley Times article
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One of our longer serving but younger volunteers, Tomasz Wiltshire was awarded with Volunteer of the Year 2019 on 18th September 2019. The award was made by Paul Todd of Green Flag Awards in recognition of his volunteering both in Penge and with Bromley Green Gym for his passion, his enthusiasm and as an inspiration to others.
Well Done Tomasz.
You can view a video of the award on YouTube here:
Green Flag Volunteer of the Year 2019
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On the 4th September 2019 we were formally presented with our QAVS certificate and crystal award.
A small team from Penge Green Gym went to a presentation held in Holborn where they were given the award by the Lord Lieutenant for Greater London, Sir Kenneth Olisa.
In Winsford Gardens we have added a plaque to our notice board.
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QUEEN’S AWARD FOR VOLUNTARY SERVICE 2019
On 2nd June 2019 we were honoured to be recipients of the Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service, equivalent to an MBE for voluntary groups.
It was given to us for for helping people to learn gardening skills and enjoy nature.
The Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service is the highest award given to volunteer groups across the UK.
Winners get a certificate signed by the Queen and a domed glass crystal. Representatives from the group may also be invited to attend a royal garden party. Our Chair and Vice-Chair were invited in May 2019.
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As part of our QAVS nomination Colonel Ray Wilkinson has attended a full session of Penge Green Gym on 30th November. He was also sent our response to the pre assessment-visit questions and wished to chat with volunteers informally.
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Good Parks for London 2018 Report
We have also been recognised in the latest Good Parks for London 2018 report, with a splash about us on page 60 where we are cited as an example of good practice.
https://glhearn-publications.cld.bz/Good-Parks-for-London-2018
The report recognises the important part good urban parks have to play to deliver economic, social, wellbeing and environmental benefits.
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Penge Green Gym were also recognised in the recent TCV Green Heroes Awards 2018
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This week, we have been excited, but also rather surprised to have been nominated for a Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service, the national benchmark for excellence in volunteering groups. We will keep you posted on the outcome of the nomination.
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Annual General Meeting and Summer BBQ
To all our members and supporters, our Annual General Meeting will be held during the weekly session on Wednesday 18th July 2018 and will be combined with our Summer Barbecue this year. Please try to attend.
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Penge In Bloom Awards 2017.
Our Chairman, Brenda, received our certificate and a silver trowel on behalf of the Penge Green Gym from the Deputy Mayor of Bromley at Alexandra Gardens on Sunday 5th November.
Penge Green Gym won the award for the Best Ecological Garden.
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UPDATE
A Big Thanks to everyone who voted for us.
We were GRASSROOTS GIVING 2017 WINNERS
A record breaking 40,000 votes being cast, both online and in Skipton Building Society branches. 164 community groups were awarded £500 and a full list of winners is here:
https://www.skiptongrg.co.uk/apply-for-funding/2017-grassroots-giving-winners/
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We have been shortlisted from 730 entries to be awarded funding from Skipton Building Society Grassroots Giving.
Skipton Building Society will give £500 to each of 164 groups to help them build a brighter future in their local communities.
Please vote for us here: Skipton Grassroots Giving
Closing date for voting, 13th October 2017
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UPDATE
We have been successful in winning the Tesco ‘Bags of Help’ initiative an we will now be able to begin work on our garden pond and Beth Chatto style gravel garden.
For further news on the progress of these projects see our Twitter or Facebook accounts.
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We are bidding to bag a substantial cash boost from the Tesco Bags of Help initiative.
Tesco has teamed up with Groundwork to launch its community funding scheme, which sees grants of £5,000, £2,000 and £1,000 – all raised from the 5p bag levy – being awarded to local community projects.
We are one of three groups in the South London Tesco region to be shortlisted to receive this cash award and shoppers are being invited to head along to Tesco stores to vote for who they think should take away the top grant.
Voting is open in stores throughout March and April. Customers will cast their vote using a blue token that should given to them at the check-out in store with any purchase each time they shop. Make sure you ask for yours and help us to win the top cash award.
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Innovation in Green Spaces Benefits All
Penge Green Gym is celebrating after receiving a Special Award for Innovation from the Green Flag Award Scheme in January 2017.
Winsford Gardens in Penge is one of just fifteen inspirational parks and green spaces in the UK to achieve the award, which is presented to Green Flag Award or Community Award winning sites that have made changes which have brought outstanding benefits to both their site and the local community.
Our Award was made in recognition of our creation of a Community Food Growing Space and our Bog Garden to Increase Biodiversity.
Paul Todd, Green Flag Award Scheme manager said: “Congratulations to everyone involved in Penge Green Gym, a worthy winner of the Special Innovation Award. Research has proved that quality parks and green spaces play a vital role within their local communities. Winsford Gardens is a perfect example of this.”
Brenda Little, chair of the Penge Green Gym Community Group, said “We’re thrilled to learn that we’ve been recognised by this national scheme through their special award for Innovation. Here in Penge we’ve got a very resilient group of volunteers who really care about their local environment and turn up each week, come rain or shine, to work in the gardens. Local residents who are increasingly using the gardens for recreational purposes are quick to compliment us on the unstinting work we’re doing to transform the gardens. And now, to receive this national recognition for our work is really the icing on the cake!”
Councillor Colin Smith, executive councillor for environment, said, “Our warmest congratulations go to Friends of Winsford Gardens not just for this recognition but as a shining example of what can be achieved by local people working together and caring about their local greenspace.”
More about this story from ‘The Bromley Times.’
More about this story from ‘The News Shopper.’
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Penge Green Gym win Penge in Bloom 2016
At an awards ceremony held in Melvin Hall, Penge Green Gym won awards for Best Ecological Garden and for Best Community Garden.
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Renovation and Rebuilding of Raised Beds
During autumn and winter 2016, Penge Green Gym replaced all our old raised beds, some of which were 5 years old and beyond repair. We renewed them with sleepers that should last for 10-15 years. This was made possible with a Greggs Foundation Environmental Grant.
You can find out more about this work here: Project Dirt
Or, you can join us on any Wednesday 11am-2pm.
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Froglife
During the summer 2016 we were visited by charity Froglife and had a Dragon Finder training session, attended by several families and children.
Froglife are a heritage lottery funded conservation charity based in the UK with a mission to conserve reptiles, amphibians and their habitats.
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Bromley Parks, Gardens and Green Spaces
Bromley’s many parks are featured in an online magazine.
Issue one published in Spring 2016 covered existing parks and landscapes, while issue two, currently being researched will cover the Lost Parks of the borough.
Bromley: Historic Parks, Gardens and Green Spaces
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For the Second year running Winsford Gardens is a Green Flag Community Award winning park.
We only one of a very few gardens, parks, allotments and heritage sites in the local area to achieve this award in 2016/17, which is a gold standard for sustainable parks management. This year we were one of 1,686 parks and gardens awarded.
Unfortunately, we were unable to attend the ceremony this year as it clashed with our own AGM. Well done to other the local winners, including Dorset Road Allotments and Bromley Palace Gardens.
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Our fourth Annual General Meeting for Penge Green Gym was held on Wednesday July 20th 2016 at 2.15pm.
Thanks for attending:
Cllr. Peter Fookes
Penny Read, The Landscape Group
Elaine Brown, Bromley Green Gym
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Thanks to Dorset Road Allotments!
Who unexpectedly gave us £100 they had raised for us!
We have also applied for grants from Skipton Building Society and Greggs the Bakers. We may need your votes to help us win these, so keep following us on Twitter and Facebook for further information.
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Mentioned in more National Reports
Penge Green Gym were recently mentioned as a case study in a National Report and conference into ways of getting people more active and taking more exercise.
You may have also seen other recent national reports in the news which have highlighted both Gardening and Volunteering as great ways to keep physically and mentally active. We don’t need to be told that, we’ve been gardening and volunteering for years!
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Waitrose Beckenham Customers raise £240 for us.
We were chosen by Waitrose for the third time to be part of their ‘good causes’ campaign in May 2016.
Thanks to everyone who shopped at Waitrose and placed their green tokens to support us.
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Penge Green Gym Win Cultivation Street
National Recognition as a Gardening Group doing the Most for our Local Community.
Our wildlife garden and wildflower meadows were recognised in the Cultivation Street national awards under the special Pollination Street category.
We won £500 of national garden centre vouchers to spend on Winsford Gardens and to make it an even more attractive place for wildlife and local residents. We also got a mention in the national press; in the Sunday People newspaper.
Cultivation Street gardening groups doing the most for their communities – Sunday People 30 Aug 2015
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For the third year running we have been successful in the Penge in Bloom competition – awarded Gold in the ‘most ecologically friendly garden plot’.
We will receive our Award from Penge Partners on 25th September 2015.
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Apparently during Summer 2015 Penge Green Gym was mentioned on Slovakian TV. If anyone has further information, could they please let us know. We are intrigued.
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Our third Annual General Meeting for Penge Green Gym was held on Wednesday July 29th 2015 at 2.15pm.
Thanks for attending:
Cllr. Peter Fookes
Cllr. Kathy Bance
Stephen Tickner, The Landscape Group
Elaine Brown, Bromley Green Gym
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Winsford Gardens is now a Green Flag Community Award winning park.
At a ceremony on 23rd July 2015 David Fergusson and Brenda Little went to Redbridge Town Hall in Ilford to receive the Green Flag Community Award on behalf of Penge Green Gym.
The Green Flag Award got us another mention in the Newsshopper.
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Winsford Gardens & Penge Green Gym were featured in the Transmitter Issue 35 Spring 2015.
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Winsford Gardens & Penge Green Gym were featured in the News Shopper again, but not for the best of reasons…
Penge Group Brands Garden Destruction Act of ‘Mindless Vandalism’
but at least this article in which we feature was a little lighter…
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Our New T-Shirts have been unveiled!
These were bought using money raised from the Pennine Way Walk by one of our volunteers, David Fergusson, last year. Read More
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Shoppers at Waitrose Beckenham in January 2015 raised £246!!
We were chosen by Waitrose for the second time to be part of their ‘good causes’ campaign in January 2015.
A big thank you to everyone who placed their green tokens to support us.
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Winsford Gardens Trail with TiCL
Mobile Phone Trail created in Winsford Gardens
Available for Apple or Android smartphone the TiCL is an exciting new FREE App to find out about, share and discuss what’s going on right where you are right now with everybody around you straight from your mobile phone.
TiCL literally points the way to things of interest nearby. It provides information about precise locations and links them together to form trails. Excitingly it also allows you to contribute and upload items yourself.
Visitors to Winsford Gardens can now use the TiCL App to discover the locations and also to find out more about all the interesting features that Penge Green Gym have added.
Friends of Parks and Green Spaces groups all over are using the TiCL App to create trails
You can Download the TiCL App here: https://ticl.me/ticlapp.html
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Penge Green Gym was featured in the News Shopper twice, once in July and then again in September 2014.
Penge Green Gym: The Workout With a Difference
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Well done Penge Green Gym!
3rd place for Best Community Ornamental Project at Bromley in Bloom.
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Our second Annual General Meeting for Penge Green Gym was held on Wednesday July 30th 2014 at 2pm.
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For the second year running we have been successful in the Penge in Bloom competition – awarded Gold in the ‘most interesting residential/community area’, and Gold in the ‘most ecologically friendly garden plot’.
We received our Awards from Penge Partners on 10th October 2014.
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Penge Green Gym are given a Volunteering Impacts Award by TCV
Volunteering Impacts Conference 27th March 2014
Penge Green Gym was a case study at a national conference into the benefits to people and communities from volunteering. Such as the improvements in environmental behaviours, their health and their well-being.
Penge Green Gym members Brenda Little and David Fergusson spoke about their own experiences.
This was a conference designed for professionals working in the third sector, academics, experts in sustainability and volunteering, community groups, volunteers, policy makers and concerned citizens alike.
You can read more about the Volunteering Impacts project and its results here:
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Penge Green Gym were mentioned in the TCV Green Impacts newsletter
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Winsford Gardens and Penge In Bloom were featured in the November 2013 Edition of SE20 Community Magazine.
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Our first Annual General Meeting for Penge Green Gym was held on Wednesday October 9th 2013 at 2.30pm.
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In a ceremony held on 20th September 2013 Winsford Gardens was awarded a Gold in the “Most Interesting Residential/Community Area” in Penge In Bloom 2013.
Gavin, Brenda, Lesley, Laura and Dave attended to receive the award from Penge Partners.
We can now add this to our Bromley Environmental Award 2012.
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Winsford Gardens and Penge Green Gym were featured in the Spring 2013 Edition of the TCV supporters magazine Roots.
Roots Supporter Magazine – Spring 2013
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Penge Green Gym was featured in the French TV programme:
Garden Party – Season 2 Episode 4 – Green Power
You can watch it here:
Garden Party Saison 02 Emission 04 – Courant Vert
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