Lordship Recreation Ground Hub turns ten

Joan Curtis at Lordship Hub Co-operative looks back on ten years

Housed in a wood-framed, straw bale, eco-building, Lordship Hub is run as a co-operative by local residents, paid workers, volunteers and co-op members. We always say we want it to be a “community building in every sense”.

The co-operative was set up by park users after the Friends of Lordship Rec decided to take on the running of the building, ensuring that it would be run by and for the benefit of the local community. The friends group itself started in 2001 with the aim of returning the park to the popular green space it had been before government cuts had reduced it to a neglected and unused green space. This project has been a massive people-led success.

A Heritage Lottery Fund bid, obtained through a close partnership between Haringey Council, the friends and other local community groups in 2011 and 2012, saw a complete refurbishment of the park which included, among many other natural and recreation features, Lordship Hub, providing the park with much-desired cafe and toilet facilities.

In the early days, Lordship Hub was run completely by volunteers and it was a while before we had the confidence and resources to take on paid staff to work with the volunteers. Throughout this time, a voluntary co-operative board of local residents have met to develop our community ethos and a strategy going forward. We do not receive direct funding from the council and depend on our trading income, grants, and donations. The building has a friendly, community cafe and two bright rooms which house a wide variety of classes for adults and children, and offer space for private parties, community events, and meetings. Over the last couple of years we have developed a
special ‘solidarity day’ on Thursdays and run a food hub with a free hot food offer (in collaboration with OK Foundation), a free seniors’ coffee morning, and have recently welcomed a refugee support organisation.

We have a large number of volunteers in all areas of our organisation and offer opportunities for people of all ages, backgrounds, and abilities to support the running of the building, learning new skills in our cafe, enjoying meeting and working with other local people or building their confidence and feeling part of something.

Over the years we have hosted many interesting and enjoyable events from topical film shows and discussions to gardening and food-growing talks, a celebration of the 250th anniversary of the birth of local residents, Luke Howard (‘namer of clouds’), the 75th Anniversary of Windrush, art fairs, poetry and musical performances, children’s creative workshops, and an apple day to name but a few. We also offer free space to local artists to exhibit their work in our cafe. Recently, we added a weather station to monitor conditions and engage people in understanding weather and climate.

The possibilities are endless and our future success depends on community engagement in our Lordship Hub project, so we would love to welcome new members to our co-operative and look forward to the next ten years of enhancing the life of our community.

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