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Runners take the final bend of the three-lap Tooting parkrun route

I found myself spending the early part of both Saturday and Sunday appreciating the effect running can have on a community. On Saturday I did my first volunteering stint at the Tooting parkrun. It was not an onerous task, acting as one of the marshals for the run. I took my son and we had a great time encouraging and congratulating runners and offering high fives to all those that needed them.

A few weeks into Wandsworth’s first parkrun it’s clear it’s generating a sense of community around the event and, to a degree, helping strengthen the community attached to the Common. Part of the marshalling job involved warning regular users of the Common about the runners (not that you can miss them) and not too inconvenienced.

I’d expected some annoyance or irritation, but all the non-parkrun users I spoke to were positive. Even those with no interest in taking part themselves seemed to appreciate the positive atmosphere. I can’t see how I’ll ever tire of seeing the magic that comes from the main pack of runners. There are, to be sure, some fast times recorded and I envy the speed and grace of those faster runners. But seeing those who come later, for whom parkrun provides that crucial opportunity for social exercise really highlights what a positive initiative it is.

My Sunday running, taking part in the North London Half Marathon, provided a slightly different perspective. The run, from Wembley Stadium to Allianz Park and back, goes through a lot of residential streets in Brent and Barnet. It must cause some inconvenience for residents, and I’m sure there are those that feel put out. But despite that it seems every road had groups of residents on the pavements, cheering runners on, offering jelly babies to give a bit of energy and, yes, giving plenty of high fives to the runners.

It’s too early to suggest a Wandsworth 10k or half-marathon—though the borough’s landmarks, parks and riverside would create an incredible route. I have broached similar events before, but the council is very resistant to close roads and levies big charges for doing so (the only time I’ve ever known the council willingly close roads was when the 2nd Royal Tank Regiment planned to parade in Battersea, presumably because they had tanks).

But while the Wandsworth half-marathon may be a pipe-dream, I can’t help thinking that even only a few months into the Tooting Common parkrun trial that it should only be the start, and not the extent, of such open sporting events in the borough.

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Parkrun finally came to Tooting this morning with a few hundred runners gathering for a collective trot around a bit of Tooting Common.

I can’t remember how long ago it was that I first spoke to Andy Bullock, the man behind today’s event, nor how many obstacles he has had to overcome in getting to today. In some ways though, it doesn’t matter. There is finally a parkrun in Wandsworth.

In 2014 I wrote why I felt Wandsworth would benefit from a parkrun:

parkrun is attractive to non-runners and helps increase overall levels of activity, a study in the Journal of Public Health found the majority of registrants were not regular runners, a third were overweight or obese and that it attracts more people from older age groups who, generally, are less active. The study also found participants reported positive outcomes to their physical and mental health, weight loss and sense of community.

And anyone there today would have seen that.

I tucked myself in at the back of the crowd—a habit I’ve adopted to stop me starting off too quickly—and overheard an older woman approach one of the parkrun volunteers. “Are you the tail-runner?” she asked before explaining, almost apologetically, “you’ll be seeing a lot of me, I’ve just started running and I’m not very fit.”

But she was welcomed. When she passed the stewarding points the applause and encouragement that greeted her were every bit as enthusiastic as they were for every runner that passed before. What was important was not her speed or her stamina, but that she was there, that she was part of Tooting parkrun.

One of the objections the council made to me when I was lobbying for a parkrun was that, because it made money from sponsorship to cover the central administration, it was a business and should have to pay (ironically the council has now created a business, Enable LC, to run its parks). Anyone there today would see that it isn’t a business, it’s a community. And a community that will only benefit the borough.

Featured image from @wandsworthbecca’s coverage of the event.

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The FT are running a series on how austerity is affecting local councils. I rather enjoyed this article about Oldham, detailing a scheme in which the council helped residents transform a bit of open space, showing that even when times are hard it needn’t all be bad.

Oldham 'hidden' garden“You can’t leave everything to the council as far as keeping places tidy. You’ve got to take responsibility for your own little patch, really,” adds another member of the secret garden team, Dave Owens.

Such sentiments are music to the ears of Jim McMahon, Oldham’s Labour council leader.

The council previously enjoyed the sense that it was “big and important, because we ran the place and it was all ours”, Mr McMahon says. “The measure of success used to be ‘how big’s your budget and how many staff do you employ?’ ”

I think Jim McMahon is one of the country’s better council leaders, in part because he appears to recognise the importance of leading and area and a community rather than just a council.

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Wandsworth’s Big Society Fund opens for another round of bids (although at the time of writing the web page doesn’t reflect this) on Monday.

The Big Society Fund exists to give small grants to smaller community based projects, so does not have hugely restrictive requirements on being a formally constituted body or requiring years of accounts in an overly formal bidding process. The sums are not huge, the biggest grant is £5,000, but are the sorts of money that make a difference to a grassroots project.

The types of organisations that can bid include residents’ associations, sports clubs or parent and teacher associations. Bids over £1,000 are usually expected so be able to show some other form of contribution, either monetary or in time, to match any council grant.

Bids need the support of a Wandsworth councillor so if you are in the area, or perhaps have a project with which I have a particular affinity, I’d be more than happy to consider giving my backing.

The council’s website has all the forms or feel free to contact me if I can help.

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The response after the disorder in Clapham Junction has been amazing. But one thing that is starting to become clear is that there isn’t quite the focal point that last Tuesday’s cleanup had.

On Tuesday it was obvious, the streets needed cleaning. But now it’s less obvious. So people are still itching to ‘do something’ but there are lots of different ideas on what that ‘something’ might be.

Many are suggesting events that will allow the community to come together. Others are suggesting fundraising to help businesses or residents affected back on their feet. Others are suggesting something that will help work with Battersea’s less affluent areas or with local young people.

One of the key roles the council can play in this is as the facilitator and enabler: and thus Battersea Buzz was born.

It’s been done quickly, but we will be hosting a meeting for anyone interested at 7pm, Tuesday 16 August in Clapham Grand (who have generously provided the venue).

The name might not be the best marketing, but we felt the ‘buzz’ represented a lot of the positives:

  • there’s the link to Battersea with the reference to bees (as seen at BAC, the old Battersea Town Hall),
  • it alludes to people coming together talking and sharing a common purpose,
  • most of all it represents the real buzz and excitement in the community in response to Monday night’s trouble.

The purpose is for people to come together, meet, share and have ideas… basically, to see what magic happens.

We’re still finalising the format, but it will be designed so the community remains in the driving seat.

It is open to everyone, but could you please register using the EventBrite site (‘tickets’ are free) so we have an idea of numbers and can get a feel for who is coming. You can also get a ‘not attending’ ticket to register your interest and share any ideas you have or skills you can offer.

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For some time my to do list has included ‘Write a Wikipedia article about the Shaftesbury Park Estate’. I’ll freely confess that it was never at the top of the list, and it was always one of those things I wanted to do one day when I had time. That day that never really comes.

However, I noticed today that someone has finally got around to writing an article. Like anything on Wikipedia it is a work in progress, and seems to borrow heavily from the council’s own conservation area appraisal statement.

However, I can’t say how pleased I am that someone else had the same idea. While I know that Wikipedia has many faults, it remains a heavily used resource for many people. And it was always a matter of pride that while other places had their articles, Shaftesbury Park didn’t.

I’ve made a few, limited, changes as time allowed to the article. But do you know anything about the estate that should be added (or have you spotted something wrong that should be removed)? I think there’s a great history to the estate and we should make sure it’s told.

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Putting this video on here isn’t being a creep like it was with the other two, because I’m in it. It means I’m being egotistical.

But it also gives me a chance to highlight the Wandsworth Conservative manifesto which I am, obviously, standing under in this election.

On of the things that strikes me about it is how some of the themes, like community and responsibility also come out strongly in the national manifesto. Given that the two were drawn up independently (and I wouldn’t pretend that ours would have influenced the national one anyway) it’s interesting to see how basic Conservative principles have shaped both documents.

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One of the things I think we do well in Wandsworth is enabling people to take responsibility for their own lives. The flagship of this is the low council tax, meaning people keep as much of their own money as possible. But I’m rather pleased with the contributions Wandsworth’s community safety team offer.

Neighbourhood Watch is perhaps the most obvious example, but we are always out and about offering advice and practical help and working with partners, like the police or fire brigade to residents.

A lesser known example is AlertBox, which was relatively recently installed in Northcote Road. The system is remarkably simple, a box with a few buttons that can be used to pass custom alerts to neighbouring shops with a linked unit. These can range from a low-level alert (perhaps a few suspicious people loitering) to a request for immediate help.

The AlertBoxes went in a series of smaller retailers on Northcote Road a few months ago and the manufacturer shared their recent appraisal with me. It’s been a clear success – 100% of people who had to use the box had a response from neighbouring shops. 91% felt it had reduced fear of isolation and 80% felt it had reduced fear of anti-social behaviour.

But most importantly 89% felt it had improved their relationship with neighbouring retailers and 93% felt it had improved their relationship with the police.

A real example of how, in many cases, life massive improvements are possible not with the state providing the solution, but in enabling people to provide the solution – in this case a contribution to the cost and some administrative work in setting it up. A fantastic result for everyone concerned.

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I’ve no idea how many people who read this blog shop at Waitrose on St John’s Hill in Clapham Junction, but if you do you will know about their Community Matters scheme.

Essentially each month, the store nominates three local charities and they each receive a share of £1,000 in proportion to the green tokens placed in their pots by shoppers.

I noticed today that Battersea Summer Scheme is one of this month’s charities.

The Summer Scheme is run each year by Battersea Crime Prevention Panel and basically runs a series of events, expeditions and excursions for young people in Battersea during their summer vacations. The basic idea being to ensure they are engaged in positive pursuits and not in a position in which they are at risk of being a victim of crime, or a perpetrator of crime.

They are totally reliant on donations of time and money to run the scheme each year – and while I know the other two causes are worthy – when you are at the check-out make sure you get your token and pop it in their slot.