A general view looking south down the hill towards the railway line.

The first meeting of the group was on November 29th 1989 at the Stables Gallery and Arts Centre. The group consisted of representatives from Brent Arts Council (BAC), Brent Sports Council (BSC), Brent Leisure Services, now Brent Parks Service (BPS), Chapel End Residents and Tenants Association (CETRA), Dollis Hill Residents Association (DHRA), Gladstone Park District Association (GPDA), Gladstone Park (South East) Residents Association (GP[SE]RA) and ward councillors from both Cricklewood and Gladstone wards. Today only two of the founder members are no longer represented, BSC and CETRA however all of the other founder members are still active and many of the representatives are still the original people, illustrating the intensity of feeling and commitment they feel towards Gladstone Park. Four new groups, Willesden Local History Society (WLHS), Friends of Cricklewood Library (FoCL), Gladstone Park Sports Club (GPSC) and Kilburn Cosmos Rugby Football Club (KCRFC) now also have representatives on the GPCC as does the  "Karmarama" café based in the courtyard of the Stables, we also have ward councillors who regularly attend meetings from the new wards of Dollis Hill, Dudden Hill, Mapesbury and Willesden Green.

After pressure from the GPSG, officers of Brent Leisure Services were instructed in December 1989 to establish a system of local consultation and in February 1990 a report was submitted to the newly renamed Community Leisure Services department introducing the GPSG to members and asking them to support the GPSG and make arrangements for the administration of the group to be carried out by officers from Community Leisure Services. The Director of Community Leisure Services was also instructed to refer all items concerning Gladstone Park to the steering group

It is interesting to note that even then there was a great deal of concern over the future of Dollis Hill House and it was high on the agenda from the beginning of the GPSG. In June 1990 a report was received from the council surveyors quoting a price of £150,000.00 to restore DHH and despite considerable pressure and lobbying by the GPSG the council, through lack of funding and perhaps foresight, decided to do nothing as it was not high on their list of priorities, a golden opportunity lost.

Projects and achievements over the years

The "dog poo" red flag day in August 1990

There are a number of projects that have been initiated by the group since its beginning. In August 1990, a special flag day was arranged at the entrance to Gladstone   Park in

A series of pond cleaning weekends by volunteers also took place and the land area around the pond was enlarged and new fencing erected to give more space to the geese and ducks, allowing them greater access to the pond and therefore reducing erosion. September 9^th 1990 marked the first of the highly successful Gladstone Park Fun Day's, which is now an annual event. In June 1995 the Gladstone Park Fun Day went ahead on the Sunday despite the first arson attack on Dollis Hill House on the Friday before, the decision to continue was based on not giving in to mindless vandalism or threats.

Local residents cleaning the pond prior to the inaugural Gladstone Park Funday in

September 1990

In April 1994 the name of the group was changed to the Gladstone Park Consultative Committee.

In January 1995 Whitbread put in their first proposals to take over Dollis Hill House and change its use to a Beefeater pub, complete with a huge car park which was planned to take up the putting and bowling greens plus the area in front of the duck pond. The GPCC organised a petition to the council with almost 1000 signatures opposing the development, (collected over a period of one week); this resulted in a public meeting being arranged. From this meeting an independent and highly focused group, "The Friends of Dollis Hill House", was set up, this group later started "The Dollis Hill House Steering Group" and is now "The Dollis Hill House Trust" a registered charity which is a very active group campaigning for the restoration of Dollis Hill House and its use for the community.

Another achievement has been in recovering the statue of a female nude by Geoffrey Colley.

 "The Naked Lady", installed in the 1970's, stolen in 1987, recovered in 1995 then restored and put back in the duck pond in 1997; thanks to some shrewd detective work by two members of the group, the late Juliette Soester ably assisted by former Mayor of Brent Mark Cummins and a Sergeant from Kilburn Police Station.

The photograph on the left was taken sometime before the statue was stolen from the middle of the duck pond in 1987; it also illustrates just how small the land area was on the south side between the path and the pond prior to it's enlargement in the early nineties.

The GPCC sponsored a poetry competition about the environment based on the carved wooden "Brentosaurus" dinosaur sculpture located south of the rose terrace in the park, with book tokens going to the winning pupil and a cash prize to the school, it was won by a pupil of Gladstone Park Primary School. It also successfully worked for a second children's playground in the south of the park and was instrumental in organising a questionnaire about the preferred location of the larger " Fort   Gladstone " playground. It also helped in selecting the type of equipment that was installed.

Other successful sponsored projects include the popular "whale" sculpture which was situated opposite "Fort Gladstone" in the north of the park until it had started to rot and was set on fire by vandals in the summer of 2006, the 35 foot high "Squid & Dolphin" sculpture (often referred to as the "Squid Stick") carved from a standing dead black poplar tree in the close vicinity. More recent additions have been the "owl seat" (beside Kendal Road) and the park's own "Noah's Ark" which is located by the children's playground alongside the ever popular and vibrant Gladstone Community Centre situated in Anson Road. In April 2005 another carving the "Turtle" was added at the bottom of Parkside towards the children's playground.

The whale, Gladstone Park's first tree carving

These projects have been produced by a local arts group "Owls Anomalous" and have been funded by the GPCC other than the "Turtle" which came from the Dollis Hill Ward working scheme. All of these trees either died naturally and were then felled or were blown down by high winds.

The "Noah's Ark" carving (left) has become hugely popular with children for climbing on, often preferred to the more conventional play equipment in the adjacent playground!

The GPCC worked closely with Brent Parks Service, local junior schools and youth sports clubs in obtaining a grant from the New Opportunities Fund to build much needed changing facilities in the park to replace the ones that were demolished many years ago. The grant application was successful and at Gladstone Park the Big Lottery Fund (NOF: PE and Sports programme) awarded a grant of £619,756 for the creation of a six-changing roomed pavilion which together with £100,000 of section 106 finance from Brent Council plus input from Brent Parks Service and further grant funding will enable the restoration of several natural-turf pitches to create a local sports facility.

This will serve an area of the Borough that is currently deficient in sports pitches*.  There are in fact nine schools within reasonable walking distance that do not have their own pitches. This project has involved a wide partnership including Brent children &  families unit as part of a portfolio of projects for Brent's schools and the local community. The Gladstone Park Consultative Committee acted as the Steering Group during the operational phase of the project. The main building of the changing rooms was completed March 2007 and work on the pitches has now commenced.

*There are only three outdoor pitches in south Brent.

In June 2005 Gladstone Park was awarded the highly coveted "Green Flag" award, the national standard for parks and green spaces across England and Wales that is based on high environmental standards, quality of green space, amenity values and community involvement and  retained it in 2006 and 2007.

This was followed up in September 2005 by winning first place in the prestigious and most sought after of the London in Bloom awards of "Best Bedding Display 2005" for the fabulous summer bedding display in the Gladstone Park Walled Garden. In 2006 the categories changed and Brent Parks as a whole were awarded the "Best Parks in London Award".

Because of this Brent was chosen to represent London in the Britain in Bloom competition where it gained a joint second place and was awarded a prestigious 'Silver Award' in the City Category at the award ceremoney in the Emirates Stadium on Friday 21 September 2007.

The achievements outlined illustrate the determination and commitment of the GPCC to fulfil its aims and objectives to protect and improve the environment and facilities within Gladstone Park and at the same time raise people's awareness to the importance of the park within the community both now and in the future.

John Hoskins

Chairman, Gladstone Park Consultative Committee

November 2007