A taste of park life: The Mayor of Hounslow highlights the importance of green spaces to young people
The Mayor of Hounslow, Cllr Tony Louki, joined young people from Brentford FC Community Sports Trust’s National Citizen Service project this week. The Mayor, who is also Secretary of the Friends of Thornbury Park, spoke to young people in Thornbury Park in Isleworth about the importance of green spaces in the borough of Hounslow.
The young people are part of the Trust’s National Citizen Service project, which offers young people aged 16-17 the opportunity to gain new skills, take part in a unique social action project and meet new people. Their chosen social action project involved a partnership with the local charity “Let’s Go Outside and Learn”, which promotes the importance of parks – particularly during the ongoing pandemic.
Sixteen-year-old Zameer certainly found the experience useful, he said:
“I really enjoyed meeting the Mayor – I was even a little bit star stuck – but he was really down to earth. He answered all of our questions and I asked him how we planned to improve local parks.”
To help galvanise interest in the local parks, the young people were transformed into filmmakers as they created short films that highlighted the benefits of open spaces in the borough – stressing the importance of parks for young people’s mental health.
The Mayor of Hounslow, Cllr Tony Louki, said:
“It was a pleasure to listen to the Young Citizens’ perspectives and admiring their patience listening to my take on how vital parks and open spaces access has been these past six months. I look forward to reading and sharing their findings with the other Friends of Thornbury Park and the council’s Parks Team as a precursor to future improvements.”
Along with the green spaces initiative, another cohort of young people teamed up with Ealing Council to promote public health messaging regarding Covid-19 – including translating “Stay Safe” messages into their native languages of Arabic, Urdu and Tamil.
