On 4 August we invited our local community to join us for an open conversation on the future of Gunnersbury post Covid-19.
In its third outing, this Big Conversation took place over Zoom. Participants were invited to consider Gunnersbury’s future by taking part in a selection of break out room topics; Communications, Park, Fundraising, Volunteering and Museum & Programming. These topics were debated and the outcomes were reported back to the wider group at the end of the conversation, see below for the discussion points.
Volunteering
- Look into ways to retain volunteers and keep the momentum.
- The members of the group were unaware of the volunteer efforts within the park, and identified a need for increased promotion.
- Concern that after lockdown there will be less appetite to when people go back to work from furlough, and when life returns to ‘normal’, people will have less spare time.
Communications
- Advertising news/events to be better dispersed across the park.
- Continue to share stories/videos from the park and the museum.
- Work toward quicker and more open communications on matters in the public interest
Park
- Would love to see more planting, also more meadow areas and interpretation/info with planting schemes.
- Continue to share garden blogs/ volunteers
- Improvements needed with the the fences around the sports construction site, the litter, and need more bins and seats further afield in the park
Museum / Programming
- Look into outdoor exhibitions as a draw to bring people into the museum who might not normally be interested/feel comfortable in visiting
- Finding ways to link the Sports Hub to the site as a whole.
- More interpretation around the park to reveal the history and horticulture interpretation and more filmed tours
Fundraising
- Think more about targeting our different audiences.
- Develop events/product where people get something in return such as musical evenings, open-air concert, memory trees and benches, auctions e.g. ask people to declutter and run an auction.
- Gunnersbury means a lot to people and in different ways, we need to share these stories and 'nurture the nostalgia' people have for Gunnersbury.
David Babington-Smith, Chairman of the Board of Directors said about the event
“We were delighted to have the opportunity to engage in meaningful conversations about Gunnersbury's future with our local community.”
We'd like to thank everyone who attended, and we hope to see you again for the next Big Conversation, dates to be confirmed.