Support for organisations to deliver an activity in a park

This page is for organisations that seek to or already deliver an activity in a park in Islington and would like information and support.

Find out about:

• Benefits to delivering an activity in an Islington park
• Support by Islington parks team
• Supporting information for funding and promotion
• Training
• Whether you need permission
• Referrals by health and care professionals
• More information

Benefits

There are many benefits to delivering an activity in an Islington park:

• Being in a park is a great way to improve health and wellbeing
• Parks have proved to be a successful venue to deliver activities. There are already over 50 regular activities from gardening and volunteering to walks and fitness sessions, with room for more
• Parks are popular. Islington has over 100 parks; everyone in the borough lives near to one
• Activities in a park are visible, which can attract additional participants. However, if required, an activity can take place in a park that is less visible to the public
• Use of the park is free in most circumstances (more information is below about whether you need permission)

Support by Islington parks team and Volunteer Centre Islington

The parks team can provide support:

• a named contact
• a hosted visit to a park
• a letter of support for a funding bid to run an activity
• case studies of Islington park users about the benefits of attending an activity
• inclusion of activities on the council website
• an introduction to organisations that already deliver activities, for example, for suggestions of instructors to lead an activity
• also, the parks team is seeking to arrange free training for people who would like to be a trained walk leader.

Volunteer Centre Islington/Voluntary Action Islington can provide support to Friends of Parks groups to find volunteers. For more information, see the leaflet to the right, Voluntary Centre Islington Support.

Supporting information for funding and promotion

Information that can help set up or continue an activity in a park:

• The current activities on offer in Islington parks 
• Funding sources, on the right-hand side. This lists over 30 sources of funding for an activity
• Health statistics for Islington, on the right-hand side. This has health statistics for Islington, which can support a funding bid
• Promotion of activities, on the right-hand side. This states how an activity in a park can be promoted
• Shared Assets guides, on the right-hand side. There are four guides: diversity & inclusion, marketing for wellbeing, volunteer good practice, and walking tours. The Shared Assets website has more information about the guides as well as the guides themselves
• Islington's Parks for Health strategy states the council's vision and plans for its parks in the 21st century. 

Training

To help deliver an activity, free mental health training is available for organisations delivering a service to Islington residents.

Do I need permission?

You need to apply to the council to hold an activity or event in a park if it includes any one of the following:

• more than 50 people attending
• amplified music
• professional caterers
• temporary structures such as bouncy castles or gazebos
• gas-fired barbecues
• the activity could cause harassment, alarm or distress to other park users or local residents.

If you need to apply to the council, then you may need to pay a fee: email park.events@islington.gov.uk for more information.

If you do not need to apply to the council, we would still like to know about your event or activity. We may be able to give information and support. Please email greenspace@islington.gov.uk.

Referrals by health and care professionals

We want to encourage organisations that deliver an activity to accept referrals from health and care professionals. This has the following benefits:

• More participants at activities
• Improved health of people who take up a referral to an activity
• A strengthened case for funding and support for the activity and the organisation that delivers it
• Saving the NHS money

More information is in the document to the right, Health Referrals to Activities in Islington Parks. For more information, please email john.thorne@islington.gov.uk.

More information

• Parks and green spaces has other information about Islington parks, including park improvement projects, Islington in Bloom, accessing a park, barbecues, and reporting a problem.
• For more information, email greenspace@islington.gov.uk

If you have a question about the content on this page, contact John Thorne: john.thorne@islington.gov.uk; 020 7527 7096.