“Our Park” film project – introduction and recruitment

Despite the challenges of face-to-face working during the pandemic, over the last year or so a local film maker – Ciaran from Renegade Production – has been engaging with a range of Beckenham Place Park (BPP) users to produce three short films about ‘Our Park’.  All work and interactions have been conducted in a Covid-19 secure way, following all government guidelines and a thorough risk assessment. 

The project

Ciaran was commissioned, with National Heritage Lottery funding, to create the shorts to promote empathy and understanding between different sets of park users, and to engage with local young people who use the park.

Our Park, is one of Beckenham Place Park’s community projects. It aims to engage local young people with the park in a meaningful way whilst developing young people’s skills. It also aims to showcase the different park user groups and to promote mutual understanding.

Ciaran has built links with young people from the Young Lewisham Project, who regularly enjoy BPP on their bikes, and has been getting to know not only park visitors but also volunteers, ground staff, lake life guards, café owners.

Next stages of the project

The next steps will be to film different groups of park users interacting with each other, discussing the park, what they like about it, their gripes with it, and generally sharing thoughts and understanding.

How to get involved

The project is ongoing until later this summer. If you would like to be involved, please email beckenhamplacepark@lewisham.gov.uk or message the project’s very own page on Instagram: @ourpark_bpp.

Watch this space for more news on when the films will be ready for viewing.