East Greenwich Pleasaunce has been awarded Green Flag status by the Civic Trust, the national body which runs the Green Flag Awards for parks and open spaces.
It will help raise the profile of the Pleasaunce and encourage the Council to continue its maintenance and development of the Park, particularly as the Award is reassessed every year. The prestigious Award shows that the park has met the eight key criteria laid down by the Civic Trust for achieving the national standard for excellence in parks and open spaces.
Matthew Wall (above left), chair of Friends of East Greenwich Pleasaunce, went up to Liverpool to receive the award on Thursday 24th July, along with Lee Beasley (centre) and Rob Goring (right), joint heads of Greenwich Council's Parks and Open Spaces Department.
Speaking after the two-hour ceremony, hosted by TV journalist Fiona Armstrong, Lee Beasley said: "We're very proud to win this Award and have all our efforts recognised in this way, but we couldn't have achieved it without the input of the Friends."
Matthew Wall said: "It's tremendous achievement and we are justifiably proud. We'd like to thank Lee and Rob especially for all their hard work improving and maintaining the Pleasaunce. We've already seen park usage by the local community increase markedly following the introduction of the dog-free zone - our Summer Picnic was attended by over 700 people this year. And we hope that the cafe will increase usage even further. The Green Flag Award is the cherry on the cake."
Close liaison between the Friends Group and the Council has already led to many impovements, such as the introduction of a dog-free zone, new planting, and the building of a cafe with toilets,scheduled for completion at the end of September.
"We're planning to erect a flagpole near the main entrance to the Pleasaunce so that the Green Flag will be clearly visible", said Beasley.