2023 | JUNE
COMPLETION OF COMMUNITY HIGH STREET
We had identified that the forecourt area, outside of an old Sainsburys site and next to the closed down leisure centre was an area on the High street that could really do with some improvement and ultimately be better used by the community.
It is a significant sized space, big enough to host community events and sits back from the road but was being used as an illegal car park and was looking incredibly run down.
With the funding we won from the HFA we worked with Urban Symbiotics-architects and planners who were commissioned to re-designed this space and a placemaking toolkit, so it was an inviting area for the community to use. Their ideas were inspired from an interactive community workshop they ran in February.
The area features floor designs, which help to create zones, such as a stage and create a playful feel Art work, with designs featuring a ‘flower’ theme as a nod to another local community group ‘Purley In Bloom’ who have done and continue to do wonderful work, installing and maintaining green spaces around the town. Two sloping metal seats sit at the entrance with the slogan ‘Purley’s Time To Shine’-a caption taken from a poster designed by Marissa, a year 6 pupil at local school, Margaret Roper.
The area can be used as a space to dwell and has tables and chairs placed out on certain days for people to use, it is also available for any community groups that wish to use it.
We celebrated the completion of the works by hosting a highly successful and well attended ‘High Street Fete’ on Saturday 17th June, giving everyone the chance to enjoy this new and improved community space.
PURLEY HIGH STREET FETE
On Saturday, 24th June, the Purley Panel launched a High Street Fete, to celebrate the completion of improvements to an unused area of the High Street. The event has been hailed as a widespread success by traders and locals alike.
The aim of the fete was to celebrate the new alleyway art and improved forecourt square area, which were both the result of local community workshops and the ideas of local people. These improvements were the response of the Purley Panel as an insight into what the Purley community wanted for the High Street, especially as the funds won from ‘The Mayor of London High Streets For All Challenge’ made this positive change possible.
Jenny, a Purley resident, noted her delight at having the fete kicked off by the Margaret Roper Catholic Primary School choir, which really ‘woke up’ the high street. My own initial reaction to the fete was the family friendly, safe atmosphere, with everyone of all ages coming together to encourage and help each other.
Traders in particular noted how supportive everyone was of small, local businesses, which was one of the focal points of the fete. To name a few, there were numerous jewellery stalls selling items of precious stones, resin, and glass-based wares, as well as various charitable associations raising awareness for their cause. One particular trader, Jane, noted the vibrant tone to the event, and how beneficial it was in bringing people together.
Amongst these, there was also a great deal of bustling food stalls run by current Purley High Street residents. These included delicious rustic sandwiches from the ‘4 Locos’ and traditional Portuguese food from ‘Sabores Da Terra’, not to mention an ice cream van to cool everyone down on a swelteringly hot summer day. Whilst consuming these goods, locals were also free to enjoy live entertainment, including vivacious acoustic music by such talented local residents, Zac Carpenter and the band ‘Not Important’, who performed on the newly designed floor area marked out as a stage, near the children’s play area. We were even honoured with a guest appearance from the Snow Queen herself, Elsa from ‘Frozen’!
Overall, the Purley High Street Fete was a very well-organised event with a wealth of activities and stalls in a small space, evoking the sense of Purley as a small, local, tightly knit community that is ever-supportive of one another. Most people persisted that fetes like these should occur more frequently, perhaps because they remind us that Purley remains a predominantly local community for the people, by the people.
Article by local young writer Jasmine Savory
COMMUNITY PLANTING EVENT
On Saturday 17th June supported by our good friends ‘Purley In Bloom’ we held a planting event in the area of the High street that we were transforming. The area is a large forecourt outside a disused Sainsburys site and the closed Leisure Centre and until recently had been used as an illegal car park.
Work had begun the previous week on making this space an area for the whole community, cleaning and installing art work on both walls and floors and complimenting the art by adding some large galvanised planters in bright pink and yellow.
The planting event was advertised on our social media pages and open to all, Purley In Bloom ran the event and had done the prep work and chosen the plants for us. We met at 10.30am and with many hands making light work, we soon managed to fill all the planters in no time.
We scheduled our event to coincide with ‘The Great Big Green Week’, which is a week-long celebration of taking, action against climate change and protecting nature. The bees wasted no times enjoying our new plants and were soon buzzing about.
To top off a lovely morning the Fire Brigade then arrived to give all our new plants a good watering, thanks to Catherine at the BID for asking them along. This was also a real treat for some of the children in attendance, being up so close to a Fire Engine.
A really wonderful community event to make a positive change to a previously very drab area and bring some greenery to the High street.
