Highcroft Community Centre’s green space has undergone a facelift with an overgrown lawn trimmed and refuse removed to leave a safe and attractive place for locals to enjoy thanks to the volunteered efforts of Greenfingers Horticultural & Ground Maintenance.

The community centre, now managed by Stockland Green Opportunity Housing & Training, is a well-known local landmark and has a long history at the heart of Stockland Green. It has, over the years, been the scene of wedding receptions, special birthdays and a place for local residents to meet and relax. Offering a varied programme of events and the opportunity to hire the facilities, Highcroft Ccommunity Centre has been a provision of support, employment and rehabilitation to the community.

Based on Slade Road, the overgrown green was previously used by the community centre as a play area for children, but with overgrown grass and dangerous debris, the green was not safe for visitors.

As part of Greenfingers’ social values to give back to the community, the grounds maintenance company volunteered to clean up the overgrown chaos after they heard about the great work Highcroft Community Centre delivers and the importance of the centre to the community.

Greenfingers, who have been looking after all the green spaces for SGOHT’s parent company, The Pioneer Group since April 2018, devoted over half a day of hard work cutting back grass that had grown as tall as a meter high, and removed a variety of discarded waste.

Cheryl Dockery, Chief Officer of Stockland Green Opportunity Housing & Training, commented:

Greenfingers has a great reputation for the quality of work they deliver in Castle Vale so I was delighted when they agreed to take up the challenge of bringing a neglected community space back to life. A tidier entrance will make it much easier to take the first step to relaunch the centre for the local community.

Greenfingers is also exploring the possibility of sharing its gardening expertise with residents. While still in the initial stages of planning basic horticultural training, the overall aim would be to have a team of trained “green inspectors” to help protect local green spaces.

Mary Kennedy, Partnerships & Development Officer at The Pioneer Group, commented:

Greenfingers cut down, scraped and sprayed the spectacularly unsightly and overgrown area at the front of the Highcroft Community Centre. We are so grateful to the volunteers for the positive impact this will have to Slade Road and the community centre.