https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/elwp Let’s do it… let’s turn this concrete-covered depot into community-owned natural swimming ponds and a biodiverse park. The crowdfunder is live: https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/elwp Please share it with friends, family, colleagues, anyone and everyone you think might be interested. And, if you can, please donate. The landowner is willing to sell. Now we have to back our offer with cash and we are fundraising from many sources. Our Crowdfunder campaign is our initial marker in the sand: to demonstrate the community is behind the vision and together we can raise the money. It’s really important it gets off to a very good start so, if you are able to donate, it would be great if you could do it sooner rather than later. For those of you who would like to share on WhatsApp and Instagram, we have some images: Map image https://www.elwp.org.uk/Committee/Display.php?File=412&Code=pd0bEJ2wzKg6evBrFJeI5C2CJgQLJ5jD Wild swimming image https://www.elwp.org.uk/Committee/Display.php?File=415&Code=AXgzJGmE9a90iTtC7MkNjUyt0f1ZeKFl I’m feeling a little nervous. No, scrub that, a lot of nervous. But this project has a life of its own, and there are so many people working hard to make it happen. Thank you to each and every one of them, and thank you to you too. Let’s do it! Abigail Woodman, 28 June 2022

‘I really like the idea, but where’s the water going to come from?’ ‘This sounds fabulous, but how is the water going to be clean enough to swim in?’ Thanks to Expedition, the engineering company we’ve been working with, we now know the answers to these questions! The swimming ponds will be fed with rain water so we don’t increase water stress by extracting from the water table or the River Lea. And the water will be cleaned as it passes through reed beds and aquatic plants. I usually write this blog once a month, but with one week to go before we launch our crowdfunder to buy the site on Tuesday 28 June, we decided to share a treat with you. I guess whether you think it’s actually a treat very much depends on your idea of a treat, and it’s certainly not chocolate. But if you’re interested in delving into how we’ll create the infrastructure that will form the heart of East London Waterworks Park, do check out the pre-feasibility report from Expedition here: https://www.elwp.org.uk/Committee/Display.php?File=400&Code=tKeniCuAY9b08AcFVa4HdAy3yjOruJIf Over the coming months, the design circle will work through the report step-by-step, working out which decisions we think we can make at this stage and where we have further questions, all the while remembering that the design must remain flexible as the concept develops. The design circle will also get stuck in to thinking about the animal and plant species we want to encourage. Once we know for certain that we can buy the site, we will commission a full feasibility report. Must dash… lots to do before next Tuesday… Eeek! Abigail Woodman, 21 June 2022

A year ago, more or less, you helped us raise nearly £30,000 to flesh out the East London Waterworks Park idea. In that time, we’ve created a strong – and, I think, really beautiful – visual identity for the project, we’ve worked out how much the land is worth and put together the first iteration of our business plan, we’ve talked to the community to develop an inclusive ethos for the project (of which more in a moment), and we’ve worked with Expedition on a pre-feasibility study (of which more shortly; the report is being prepared as I type). We hope you think we’ve used, and are continuing to use, your money wisely. We could not have got this far without you; thank you. With this phase of work finishing, it’s time to look ahead! As those of you who’ve read the business plan will know, we envisaged signing a heads-of-terms agreement with the landowner, which would set out the purchase price and give us a number of years to raise the capital sum required to buy the land. However, while we’ve had a positive conversation with LocatED and have thrown our hat in the ring, it has become clear that we must raise a considerable sum of money as soon as possible to be seen as a credible buyer. That’s why we’ll be launching a new crowdfunding campaign towards the end of the month. Right from the get-go, we’ve said that we’re committed to inclusivity, that we want to ensure everybody feels welcome in and around the project and that the park itself is designed to welcome everybody. And I don’t think there are many people who would argue against this as a concept. The challenge of course is how you do more than pay lip service to the idea. What does inclusivity mean and how do you make sure it is manifested? To help us answer these questions, East London Waterworks Park began a listening project. Phase one of the listening project focused on desk research. We read as much as we could about the needs and experiences of women, disabled people, people from ethnic minorities, children, people from disadvantaged backgrounds and people on low incomes in relation to community spaces and green and blue places. From our findings, we developed eight inclusivity principles. Phase two of the listening project tested these inclusivity principles with twelve community organisations representing groups of people who are historically underrepresented in environmental projects like East London Waterworks Park. We talked to: - Interlink Foundation, representing Orthodox Jews - MIND, representing people with mental health difficulties - English Conversation Club, representing people who do not speak English as a first language - Waltham Forest Women’s Network, representing women - elop, representing LGBTQ+ people - Millfields Community School Parent Staff Association, representing parents with young children - Waltham Forest Young Advisors, representing younger people - Voyage Youth, representing Black people and particularly younger Black people - Connect Hackney, representing older people - Muslamic Makers, representing Muslims - A speech and language therapist with experience of working with children and young people who have special educational needs, representing children and young people with special educational needs - Made in Hackney, representing people from disadvantaged backgrounds and people on low incomes The conversations were inspiring and we are extremely grateful for the generosity of all the participants, who shared their insights and wisdom with us. They have helped us refine East London Waterworks Park’s inclusivity principles and think more deeply about how we can – now and in the future – put them into practice. You can read the full report here https://www.elwp.org.uk/Committee/Display.php?File=373&Code=6rYZCskiT2l4MxYbR1Ls9ZkPbawP0mcY It sets out the original principles, the conversations and the revised principles, and puts forward a proposal for phase three of the listening project. We’re excited about talking to more people to further deepen our understanding. I find it very inspiring to talk to people who are different from me. In many ways, that means I find it inspiring to talk to just about anybody because even when, on the surface, I appear to have life experiences in common with someone, so often our paths through life have been different and there is something I can learn about the world from a conversation with them. But what does that mean for inclusivity? I think, in the past, I might have said that inclusivity is about having an open heart, treating everyone the same and finding common ground. And I still believe that is important. But I’ve come to realise that inclusivity is also – and perhaps more importantly – about finding our points of difference and working out how to accommodate those differences together. It’s about talking and listening and finding out how we are different and how your needs and my needs can coexist quite happily. As anyone who has bickered with a partner about how best to hang out the washing will know that’s not always easy, but it is possible if you commit to the work. And East London Waterworks Park has very much committed to the work. Abigail Woodman, 7 June 2022

Friday 1 April was East London Waterworks Park’s inaugural away day. It was, first and foremost, an opportunity for us to meet face-to-face. Zoom is wonderful, enabling people to work together despite distance and contagious diseases, but there is nothing like being in the same room for a bit of non-verbal communication and to really get to know each other. The day began with a tour of the venue: Suntrap Forest Centre. It’s Waltham Forest’s outdoor education centre and we chose it because it shares our aim of providing a place for people, and children in particular, to learn about the environment though practical activities. It’s a beautiful setting, with the primroses reminding me that the bitingly cold wind will, soon, give way to warmer weather. And the recent refurbishment means it demonstrates how to use the latest technology to make old and new buildings as environmentally friendly as possible. Suntrap was built by the Baring family (of Barings Bank fame) and began life as a convalescent home for children with tuberculosis. Then, during the Second World War, it became a maternity home, a place for mothers from the East End of London to have their babies away from the bombing. In the 1950s it was turned into flats for people desperate for a home after the war. Finally, in 1967, it was sold to the London Borough of Waltham Forest for the princely sum of £500. This was, I’m sure, well below the market value, and I hope the owners of our site have the same foresight and generosity to see the benefits that bloom from gifting land to the community. Our first session proper focused on how we, as a group, do things. We asked ourselves: How good we are at welcoming and onboarding people? How good are we at communicating internally? How good are we at all pulling in the same direction? How good are we at managing our risks? For each question we scored ourselves on a scale of 1 to 10 and then considered what we could do to get better. Some great ideas emerged, which we’ll be putting into practice as soon as possible, including regular opportunities for new joiners to ask questions and ensuring we have processes that are flexible enough to adjust to changing circumstances as the project develops. Next, we explored the designs for the site that are beginning to emerge from the design circle, thinking about how people will move through the site. How can we encourage certain activities in specific places, while at the same time gently discouraging human encroachment into areas we want to balance more in favour of non-human nature? While we know our ideas will change many times over the coming years, beginning to establish core requirements will enable us to efficiently flex the plans as we discover more and more about the site. Then it was the turn of the learning circle, which gave us an opportunity to think about the many and varied learning journeys people will experience when they visit the site once East London Waterworks Park is open. Who will visit the site? Describe a visitor. What will they experience at the site to generate learning? Describe their concrete experience. What conclusion might they draw from their experience? Describe their reflective observation. What might they do in response to this conclusion? Describe their active experimentation. These learning journeys will then be distilled into learning design principles, which will enable us to work with partners to develop programmes and events that stick to our vision of sustainable, inclusive and joyful learning experiences. We ended the day with a checkout, giving each person an opportunity to say how the day had been for them. I think we all enjoyed it. I certainly did. It was energising to spend a day with likeminded people, and I left feeling full of hope: what we are working together to create is inspiring. That’s not an idle boast I realise; I know it’s inspiring, because it keeps inspiring me – us – to show up and do more to make it happen. Abigail Woodman, 6 April 2022

The fundraising circle is looking for volunteers and Kate, the chair of the fundraising circle, has put together a person specification. Recruiting is a new approach for us, and we’re excited to see what happens. Is this you? If it is, do get in touch. East London Waterworks Park is looking for volunteers with professional experience in fundraising for a not-for-profit organisation. As an environment-first education project based in Waltham Forest and on the border with Hackney, volunteers will – ideally – live in on or other of the boroughs. At the moment, we are building a fundraising strategy. Rather than actively raising funds, we are currently exploring various funding routes for our long-term goal, which we believe is achievable with a creative and committed team of individuals in place. Having had previous success with crowdfunding, we will likely rely on sprints using this method, supplemented by trust/foundation grants and philanthropic support. Would you like to join our team of fearless and inspired local people? We work to high ethical standards and follow a sociocratic approach to decision-making. We gather fortnightly, via Zoom, where we share ideas and learn from each other in lively meetings, and spend additional time outside meetings completing agreed tasks. Occasionally, we gather for walks, planning sessions, or meetings with key stakeholders. We are looking for someone confident, driven, and open-minded to join this exciting project in its early stages. We are looking for people who have: a desire to make an impact in their local community a specific interest in addressing the climate crisis head-on previous fundraising experience an understanding of how to identify funding prospects or opportunities knowledge about how to maintain a donor database an ability to assemble a long-term fundraising strategy excellent relationship-building and communication skills confidence to pitch, present, and teach the ‘art of the ask’ to others in the group. Our vision is to acquire and transform the 5.68-hectare ex-Thames Water Depot on Lea Bridge Road in Waltham Forest into a brownfield rainforest, offering people the opportunity to immerse themselves in nature. With the right people offering their time and skills, we are confident we can make this happen for our community. Are you inspired to join us? If you are, please get in touch by emailing info@elwp.org.uk. Before you click on the link to write to us, I promised you an otter. I appreciate it’s quite a random promise, but I’ve recently heard that otters have been spotted in the River Lea. And while looking at a photograph isn’t as wonderful as seeing an animal in the wild, this beautiful photograph by Ray Harrington, of an otter playing at Dartmoor Otter Sanctuary, is the next best thing. Photo by Ray Harrington on Unsplash. Ta-ta for now. Abigail Woodman, 1 February 2022

I’ve just looked back and realised that the blog was launched on 31 January 2021, so it is almost a year old! My Grandma urged us never to celebrate prior to an event. If we couldn’t celebrate on the day, then it had to be afterwards, just in case the proverbial bus got us in the meantime. But after a low-key Christmas (my Covid self-isolation period came to an end at midnight on Christmas Eve so we couldn’t travel to see family as planned), I feel in the mood to celebrate a year of sharing our news with you. I hope you have enjoyed reading and will continue the adventure with us in 2022. We begin this year with information on how you can help the East London Waterworks Park become part of Waltham Forest Council’s vision for the borough and a report from a recent visit to the site. Lea Bridge Area Framework Although some people I chat to think the East London Waterworks Park is in Hackney, it’s actually in Waltham Forest, in Lea Bridge, and that means Waltham Forest Council is thinking about our plans as part of the Lea Bridge Area Framework. In the Council’s words, ‘The aim of the Lea Bridge Area Framework is to help coordinate change in the area and realise benefits of potential development and investment including public realm and open space improvements, climate adaptation initiatives, health facilities, community spaces and social infrastructure.’ You can have your say about the Council’s plans here: https://www.walthamforest.gov.uk/regeneration-and-growth/regeneration-projects-and-developments/regeneration-lea-bridge/lea-bridge. The closing date is 11pm on Friday 14 January. While I wouldn’t want to influence your response to the consultation in the slightest, I will just let you know that I put ‘Enhancing biodiversity, green space and improving connections as part of any future improvements to the former Thames Water Depot’ as my number one priority in response to Question 3. And I also mentioned that I would like to see Waltham Forest Council do what it can to help the East London Waterworks Park team realise its vision for the former Thames Water Depot in response to Question 4 … Site visit As most of you know, I’m sure, the site of the East London Waterworks Park is still a working depot despite being frequently referred to as the ‘former Thames Water Depot’. I’ve tried to mosey on in several times, but have always been stopped by the security guards politely but firmly making it clear that I cannot just wander around and have a look. I had to be invited on an official site visit. It took a while to organise but, thanks in most part to the efforts of MP Stella Creasy’s team, five of us were finally able to visit in November. And it was really exciting. The site is much, much bigger than you imagine from the outside. In my mind, it was all buildings but the Engineer’s House and the engine sheds are far from dominating; what catches your breath is the space. There is space to create places for people to grow and space to create places for nature to grow, space for both to thrive. We came away feeling invigorated and full of ideas. I’m not sure if it’s possible for photos to do the experience justice, but if you'd like see more we've had put some on the full blog post on our website: https://www.elwp.org.uk/Blog.htm Currently filled with all sorts of materials used to maintain our drinking water and sewage infrastructure, it’s hard to appreciate the sense of scale, but standing here we could imagine swimming amongst reeds. And it was wonderful to stumble across these cobbles and follow the old path around the southern perimeter of the site; a walk I can imagine lots of us taking in years to come. I hope you too can see past the present and into the future, whether it’s the future of the East London Waterworks Park, the future of our society or your own future. May it be bright and full of joy. Abigail Woodman, 4 January 2022

I’ve been staring at my screen for a while now, trying to think of a way to start this end-of-the-year post in an original way. I’ve failed, and so I’m sharing a selection of sentence starters with you and would like you to choose your favourite… As 2021 draws to a close… With 2022 just around the corner… How quickly this year has flown by… This time last year, East London Waterworks Park was a very small group of people with a big idea. Today, it is a bigger group of people, hundreds of supporters, a company that is poised to become a charity, a community-led organisation with a robust governance structure, with money in the bank. And our big idea is closer than ever before to becoming a reality. Thank you to everyone who has been part of the journey so far. We’re so excited about the challenges that lie ahead but, for now, let’s celebrate how far we’ve come. On 12 February 2021, our Spacehive crowdfunding campaign went live and within a few months we had exceeded our target and raised £30,156 from 553 generous backers, plus an additional £30,000 for a generous donor. This was a watershed moment. If we hadn’t been able to raise the money, I’m not sure we would have found the energy to carry on. But to know our idea resonated so much with so many people was incredibly motivating and we now, of course, had the money we needed to take things further. Thank you to everyone who contributed. Here’s how we’ve been spending your money… We raised £6120 to pay a surveyor to value the land so that we can enter into negotiations with the landowner and determine a fundraising goal to purchase the site. We briefed our chosen surveyor and, wonderfully, he was kind enough to give us the information we needed for free. This was the first but, as you’ll see, not the last time people have caught the magic of the project and the things we need have come to us at the right time for free. We are now working on a business plan with the help of the ARENA project, a project run from the Sustainability Research Institute at the University of East London that provides free support to London start-ups developing nature-based solutions. The £6120 is sitting safely in our bank account and will carry through to phase two of the campaign: purchasing the site. We raised £2160 to pay a designer to develop a visual identity. However, before we could brief someone, two designers – Laurie and Tory – joined the team and offered to do the work for free. We have been blown away by their ideas and have had a wonderful time over the last few months whittling down the options. Today, I’m truly delighted to share our new logo with you. And, now we have a logo, the work on the full visual identity and brand guidelines can begin. The £2160 is, of course, sitting safely in our bank account and will carry through to phase two of the campaign. We raised £1650 to help us gather the data required to ensure the East London Waterworks Park is designed to welcome everyone. We began with desk research, looking at what others have already said about how to create spaces, particularly open spaces, that are inclusive. From this desk research we developed eight inclusivity principles; eight principles that will guide every aspect of the project. Now we are carrying out one-to-one interviews with twelve diverse community groups to sense check our thinking. When we are happy with the principles, we’ll be reaching out to many more people to help us understand how to put the principles into practice. Thanks to the money we raised, we are able to pay each community group £50 for their time and will be able to pay individual interviewees £10 for their time. The conversations we have had so far have been incredibly inspiring, and I’ve been humbled by the enthusiasm for the project and the insights I’ve glimpsed listening to such passionate advocates talking. Finally, we raised £15,600 to pay civil and environmental engineers to test the feasibility of our ideas and help us develop the concept, and we are delighted to be working with Expedition: https://expedition.uk.com/. We had our first meeting with the team at the end of last week and it was really fascinating to begin to understand the constraints of the site, and to begin to think about how we tackle the challenges they present. This piece of work is in its infancy, but we are looking forward to sharing our findings with you later next year. So, there you have it. I really hope you feel we’re spending – and saving – your money wisely. We would not be here without out. Thank you. Abigail Woodman, 16 December 2021 https://www.elwp.org.uk/Blog.htm

The East London Waterworks Park team is beavering away on its priority tasks: preparing a business plan, creating a visual identity, developing our inclusivity principles and discussing our pre-feasibility study. We’re not quite ready to share this work with you yet, but we do have one piece of news. We have decided to set up a new working group, the education circle. Education runs through every aspect of the project, from our headline aim of helping people re-learn how to live in harmony with nature, to teaching new skills through our skillshare approach, to learning together how to buy and create a space owned and managed by the community for nature. And we’ve already started working with students from the University of Westminster, the London School of Architecture and Queen Mary University of London. So, we decided we need a circle to manage, promote and develop this strand of the project. If you’ve been thinking about getting involved with the project but haven’t quite seen your niche in the existing circles, and like the sound of the education circle, please do get in touch: info@elwp.org.uk. Abigail Woodman, 5 October 2021 https://www.elwp.org.uk/Blog.htm

Thanks again for your support! The hard work is about to begin. Follow along to receive blogposts in your inbox here: https://www.elwp.org.uk/SignUp.htm and join our Facebook group to be part of the conversation: https://www.facebook.com/groups/315009090047716