The people making a difference: the woman behind Vauxhall's award-winning green space

When Polly Freeman joined the newly-formed Friends of Vauxhall Park group in 2000, Lambeth council saw Vauxhall park as nothing more than a “scrappy, old open space”. Twenty-two years later, much has changed. Having rescued it from a state of managed decline, Freeman now sits proudly in the cafe of the award-winning park with the sound of children playing in the background.

“I ask myself constantly why I do it and it’s because you just see really fantastic results,” begins Freeman. “Walking through the park and hearing the children playing makes my heart flutter”.

Since its formation, the Friends have created a “neutral space” with a cafe, a multi-use games court, a playground, and a lavender garden. Freeman has worked hard to secure council funding and create the highly-successful space.

“Times have never been good for parks,” she explains. “In all the 20 years I’ve been here, we’ve always faced that. We’re quite rightly behind families in need, or housing, but we are continually bottom of the pile.”

Both the general attitude of Lambeth Council and the difficulties of funding the Friends’ improvement plans have been a constant concern for Freeman and the other trustees.

“There have been times when we’ve been in absolute despair,” she reflects.

Besides funding hurdles, Freeman finds communicating and working with the council the most difficult. “All the planning meetings were quite intimidating as a non-legal, non-planner. It gives me a lot of satisfaction that we’ve got that money and we’ve done the improvements.”

Looking after the park is even more essential to the community due to the park’s extraordinary history. Opened in 1890, the land was previously occupied by houses with residents including respected academic, Henry Fawcett, and wife Millicent, a Suffragist leader. After Mr Fawcett’s death, Millicent Fawcett, campaigned alongside Octavia Hill (co-founder of the National Trust) and local residents to fulfil Mr Fawcett’s wishes of creating a park for local people.

Vauxhall Park’s history is a constant inspiration for Freeman. “Some of the most incredible people have been involved here. Octavia Hill has been a hero of mine since I was quite young so I’m incredibly chuffed I’ve ended up where she was involved,” says Freeman, adding: “I’m protecting their legacy.”

Across its history, the Friends have funded many projects to make Vauxhall Park an inclusive space for the diverse local community. “We’ve tried to make it something for everybody and we’ve tried to make it a respectful space which has benefited the community enormously.”

“We had a lovely, very young Russian girl who came to our lavender harvest,” says Freeman. “Her English wasn’t good. I didn’t speak Russian. She was obviously very traumatised by something. It was lovely to see her and her mum sitting here cutting lavender and just not having to worry about school or whatever else was on her mind. It was very emotional.”

Following major improvements, Freeman organised a reopening in September 2021 attended by all the local children.“We had a piece of ribbon which was 100 metres long so I got 300 pairs of scissors and I got the children to reopen the park.”

“The ribbon symbolised the way that the park ties us all together,” Freeman says – before adding that in the future she plans to make the park more inclusive for neurodivergent children.

Referencing an open space in the corner of the park, she explains: “We’re going to make that space a quieter area specifically designed for children who find the park overwhelming.”

The Friends are always looking for new ways to improve Vauxhall Park. “We never stand still,” says Freeman.