A man, who had a vision to see his community park in good standards, has been making his presence felt with the help of his trusted gardener, volunteers and the HGC Residents Association.
Paul Rangercroft, a Parkmore resident who has always been fascinated with nature and the development of recreational land, took on a mission to revive a neglected park that had been faced with multiple issues of maintenance, land pollution, increased population of alien vegetation and the contamination of the stream water.
“Some of the residents situated in the area had come through and dumped their garden refuse in the stream. The stream is beautiful when its clean and it flows all the way through the year. We spent months taking all of the rubbish out of the stream, clearing up all the muck, shaped the trees and made walking trails to encourage the residents to use the park for walks,” said Rangercroft.
Rangercroft with his gardener, Nigel Mohononi, approached the HGC Residents Association to become the caretakers of Hurlingham Park in mid-2020 with hopes of making the area accessible and clean. The residents association has been assisting the duo with tools, labour and financial support throughout the duration of the cleaning of the park.
“I would take a walk around the park and I saw that it was in need of some attention so I started coming here every week with my gardener. There are lots of interesting trees in the park. Most of them come from all different parts of the world: hairy oak tree, Canary Island date palm, swamp cypress and many more,” said Rangercroft.
The park now offers residents a lot of open space to walk with their dogs, have picnics with families and to engage in sports activities.
Rangercroft, Mohononi and the HGC Residents Association welcome members of the community to the new improved Hurlingham Park.
