Gentoo colleagues have been praised for pitching in to help as work starts on transforming a park pavilion into a major new community hub and activities centre.
The former sports pavilion at the King George V Playing Field, in Palgrove Road, between Hylton Road and Chester Road, is being lined-up as a hub for more community-focused activities such as youth groups, meeting and rehearsal rooms, and office space for local groups and organisations, with the project being overseen by the Pallion Action Group (PAG).
The pavilion will also form part of the wider-PAG partnership and work closely with the Connor Brown Trust on promoting positive activities among young people. The trust was launched following the death of 18-year-old Connor when he was stabbed as he tried to break up a fight outside a city centre pub in December 2019.
The playing field is a protected site but the pavilion has fallen into disrepair and attracted anti-social behaviour since sports clubs stopped using it as they either disbanded or moved to other venues.
Ahead of work starting on the pavilion, an appeal was made for help with clearing and tidying the surrounding areas of the building, including the former bowling greens. Gentoo’s Grounds Maintenance Team responded in great style, making a real contribution over two days of volunteering time, labour and expertise.
Karen Noble, PAG Manager, said: “We put a call out for volunteers and for these last two days we’ve had Gentoo teams come along and pull it out of the bag for us. They have grafted!
“They have bagged all of the rubbish, they have cut the grass, they’ve taken bushes down. They have just done so much work it has been amazing. Nothing has been a bother and they have saved us thousands of pounds which could be used for other things.
“It has been outstanding from them, we are so pleased.”
Tanya Brown, Connor’s mum, added: “They have also offered guidance to our volunteers as well. They have shown the volunteers how to do jobs properly which has been a massive, massive help. They have been fabulous.
“This place has so much potential. The space is amazing and we plan to make it useable again for everyone. We are going to make it fabulous for the community.”
Among Gentoo colleagues who volunteered was Mark Telford, a Gardener from the Grounds Maintenance Team. It was a real labour of love for Mark as he grew up in the street overlooking the pavilion and the work brought back lots of boyhood memories.
He said: “We’ve been renovating the bowling greens, taking rubbish away, pruning and tidying up. I was born just over the road and used to come here as a bairn so nice to return to my old hunting ground. I spent hours here playing football, bowls and tennis and looking forward to putting something back into regenerating the place.”
The community hub will hopefully be open by August. Work on the pavilion is being helped with a £243,1016 grant from the UK Shared Prosperity Fund (UKSPF).
