01702 965959
enquiries@garonparkcic.com
Garon Park Community Interest Company (GP CIC) & Wellbeing at Garon Park CIO
GP CIC was founded in 2015, with the aim of providing ‘sustainable destination sports and wellbeing facilities’ to the local community.
GP CIC is a company limited by guarantee and is directed by a Board of local volunteer Directors, with specialist skills to ensure proper compliance and processes are applied to all activities.
GP CIC commissioned a report to assess the health and wellbeing of the local area and to look at how we could best use the ground to help alleviate some of the most serious social impacts facing the local community. We found that in the local community, life expectancy among men was 9 years less than the national average and 7 years less for women, which in itself is shocking, but that local people’s usage of the NHS was 1.6 of the national average (1). We also established the area had high immigration rates and local wards were in the top 5% of the country’s most deprived.
We drew up our outline plans and ran various consultations events within the local community, one of which attracted over 3,000 attendees, and formulated a plan, which included the setting up of a charity, Wellbeing at Garon Park (WBGP) and then started our work to find the funding to finance our levelling up mission.
WBGP is a registered charity CIO and is directed by a Board of local volunteer Trustees, with specialist skills and experience which compliment the target aims of the charity. WBGP’s aim is to use the natural wealth of the site to “improve the mental and physical health and wellbeing of the local community, while enhancing the beauty, biodiversity and environmental value of the site.”
In 2019 GP CIC signed a substantial Lease on the 32 acres site with Norman Garon Trust, after jointly raising £1.7m for sports and wellbeing facilities with WBGP in the same year.
GP CIC completed the installation of a 3G football pitch in January 2020 and in March 2020 the COVID-19 pandemic struck and we, as the rest of the nation, had to close. It was however not all bad news as we had funds to build the WBGP offer, the Vitality Park, which features a near 1k specialist fitness pathway with activities spaced along the route.
The site operates a ‘levelling up’ agenda, which means we offer the same access to a safe, non-judgemental facilities to everyone.
In 2019 we employed 1 person on site, in 2022 that has gone up to 12, all from the local community.
The site has been financially sustainable from day 1 with our business plan based on letting and licensing facilities to suitable local partner organisations to deliver community services in our facilities.
The regeneration of the site allowed us to immediately provide the community with safe facilities and activities to improve their mental and physical health after lockdown in April 2021 – a time when local people were struggling disproportionately with the challenges of the pandemic.
We were extremely pleased therefore, when in June 2021 we were chosen by the Local Authority to deliver the Community Regeneration Fund (CRF – In2Volunteering and In2Work) – and Holiday Activity and Food (HAF) programmes locally – both of which have proven our model’s ability to provide a first class, focused execution at scale.
Clive Shiret
Director
Garon Park CIC provides destination quality facilities for the use of the whole community equally.
Our funding model relies on us programming different users and activities into our various facilities at different times of the day, 7 day a week, and the more facilities we have the greater the amount of regular access we can provide for everyone.
GP CIC has a masterplan for developing the site further to benefit the mental and physical health and wellbeing of the local community.
Our plans include:
There is currently 1 x 3G football pitch on site. GP CIC are working with the Football Foundation to provide a second 3G pitch, including changing facilities. Trinity FC will be our lead key club with further key club partners announced as the project progresses
Our aim is to install a full size Gen2 multiuse pitch, focussing on Hockey and Netball, both Olympic sports. Southend has a need for a pitch to accommodate these sports after the loss of local facilities and the continued high levels of demand, especially in development of youth, which justify the inclusion in our plans. We are partnering Southend Hockey Club in this activity and we will be collecting further interested groups as the project progresses
There are significant levels of deprivation in the local area with all that brings in terms of poor health and wellbeing outcomes. We plan to provide Camping Pods for families to forget life’s usual daily pressures and use all the specialist facilities to help family units interact and relax in our safe environment. The plan also provides social dining facilities and all the domestic facilities to make for a successful stay.
In front of the clubhouse we have a vital community area, which houses an extremely busy playground and a multi age social and physical fitness area. The plan is to introduce an all weather surface and more shelter so the area offers a year around clean outdoor activity space.
We have produced a base line survey and GAP analysis report, including extensive consultations with local young people over the course of the year. The aim of the project is to provide a multidisciplined safe area, where our local young people can socialise, get fit, practise life skills, vocational skills and hobbies while following a path way to their future lives. The aim is to initially provide a large sports hall and a large social facility with associated resources. We are currently involved with a major funding partner to provide base facilities and if successful we will be having a major push to finance further associated facilities which our research suggests would be welcomed by the youth community – further details to follow.
We are producing plans to turn our scoreboard into a large multi disciplined Heritage Arts Centre for visual arts. The plan revolves around the use of the area by the community as a whole, in keeping with our overall vision for the site.
Garon Park Community Interest Company (GP CIC) & Wellbeing at Garon Park CIO
GP CIC was founded in 2015, with the aim of providing ‘sustainable destination sports and wellbeing facilities’ to the local community.
GP CIC is a company limited by guarantee and is directed by a Board of local volunteer Directors, with specialist skills to ensure proper compliance and processes are applied to all activities.
GP CIC commissioned a report to assess the health and wellbeing of the local area and to look at how we could best use the ground to help alleviate some of the most serious social impacts facing the local community. We found that in the local community, life expectancy among men was 9 years less than the national average and 7 years less for women, which in itself is shocking, but that local people’s usage of the NHS was 1.6 of the national average (1). We also established the area had high immigration rates and local wards were in the top 5% of the country’s most deprived.
We drew up our outline plans and ran various consultations events within the local community, one of which attracted over 3,000 attendees, and formulated a plan, which included the setting up of a charity, Wellbeing at Garon Park (WBGP) and then started our work to find the funding to finance our levelling up mission.
WBGP is a registered charity CIO and is directed by a Board of local volunteer Trustees, with specialist skills and experience which compliment the target aims of the charity. WBGP’s aim is to use the natural wealth of the site to “improve the mental and physical health and wellbeing of the local community, while enhancing the beauty, biodiversity and environmental value of the site.”
In 2019 GP CIC signed a substantial Lease on the 32 acres site with Norman Garon Trust, after jointly raising £1.7m for sports and wellbeing facilities with WBGP in the same year.
GP CIC completed the installation of a 3G football pitch in January 2020 and in March 2020 the COVID-19 pandemic struck and we, as the rest of the nation, had to close. It was however not all bad news as we had funds to build the WBGP offer, the Vitality Park, which features a near 1k specialist fitness pathway with activities spaced along the route.
The site operates a ‘levelling up’ agenda, which means we offer the same access to a safe, non-judgemental facilities to everyone.
In 2019 we employed 1 person on site, in 2022 that has gone up to 12, all from the local community.
The site has been financially sustainable from day 1 with our business plan based on letting and licensing facilities to suitable local partner organisations to deliver community services in our facilities.
The regeneration of the site allowed us to immediately provide the community with safe facilities and activities to improve their mental and physical health after lockdown in April 2021 – a time when local people were struggling disproportionately with the challenges of the pandemic.
We were extremely pleased therefore, when in June 2021 we were chosen by the Local Authority to deliver the Community Regeneration Fund (CRF – In2Volunteering and In2Work) – and Holiday Activity and Food (HAF) programmes locally – both of which have proven our model’s ability to provide a first class, focused execution at scale.
Clive Shiret
Director
Garon Park CIC provides destination quality facilities for the use of the whole community equally.
Our funding model relies on us programming different users and activities into our various facilities at different times of the day, 7 day a week, and the more facilities we have the greater the amount of regular access we can provide for everyone.
GP CIC has a masterplan for developing the site further to benefit the mental and physical health and wellbeing of the local community.
Our plans include:
There is currently 1 x 3G football pitch on site. GP CIC are working with the Football Foundation to provide a second 3G pitch, including changing facilities. Trinity FC will be our lead key club with further key club partners announced as the project progresses
Our aim is to install a full size Gen2 multiuse pitch, focussing on Hockey and Netball, both Olympic sports. Southend has a need for a pitch to accommodate these sports after the loss of local facilities and the continued high levels of demand, especially in development of youth, which justify the inclusion in our plans. We are partnering Southend Hockey Club in this activity and we will be collecting further interested groups as the project progresses
There are significant levels of deprivation in the local area with all that brings in terms of poor health and wellbeing outcomes. We plan to provide Camping Pods for families to forget life’s usual daily pressures and use all the specialist facilities to help family units interact and relax in our safe environment. The plan also provides social dining facilities and all the domestic facilities to make for a successful stay.
In front of the clubhouse we have a vital community area, which houses an extremely busy playground and a multi age social and physical fitness area. The plan is to introduce an all weather surface and more shelter so the area offers a year around clean outdoor activity space.
We have produced a base line survey and GAP analysis report, including extensive consultations with local young people over the course of the year. The aim of the project is to provide a multidisciplined safe area, where our local young people can socialise, get fit, practise life skills, vocational skills and hobbies while following a path way to their future lives. The aim is to initially provide a large sports hall and a large social facility with associated resources. We are currently involved with a major funding partner to provide base facilities and if successful we will be having a major push to finance further associated facilities which our research suggests would be welcomed by the youth community – further details to follow.
We are producing plans to turn our scoreboard into a large multi disciplined Heritage Arts Centre for visual arts. The plan revolves around the use of the area by the community as a whole, in keeping with our overall vision for the site.
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Charity Number: 1178841 | Address:Cricket Pavilion, Garon Park, Eastern Avenue, Southend on Sea, Essex SS2 4FA
© 2022 Wellbeing @ Garon Park.