Abbots Langley
Leisure Project
Leisure, play, sport and
cultural improvements
For more details or to share your story, visit
www.abbotslangleyleisureproject.com
Abbots Langley Leisure Project
After feedback from the community, Three Rivers
District Council has developed the Abbots Langley
Leisure Project that consists of four separate
projects.
When completed these will offer a lively and
full spectrum of cultural and leisure facilities,
development programmes and opportunities
leading to an improved quality of life for the
community and visitors to the parish of Abbots
Langley.
This leaflet will give you a taster of the projects and
their stages of development as well as inviting you
to share your story and become involved.
For more details on each project or to share your
stories visit:
www.abbotslangleyleisureproject.com
Our partners in the journey are:
Abbots Langley Parish Council
YMCA
Warner Bros. Studios Leavesden
Hertfordshire County Council
(Community Adult Learning Disability Team)
Hertfordshire Archive and Local Studies (HALS)
The Elms
Youth Connexions
Abbots Langley Local History Society
Leavesden Hospital History Association
Henderson Hub
Local schools
Heritage Lottery Fund
Friends of Leavesden Country Park
and, of course, the community
Correct at time of print: October 2016
Abbots Langley Leisure Project
Proposed and recently improved leisure
schemes, enhancing the local
community of Abbots Langley
and surrounding areas.
B
A
C
D
YMCA Woodlands Project
Allotments
A
Manor House Grounds
Play Area
B
Arts & Culture Centre
Cycle Project
C
Learning & SharingLeavesden Country Park
Outdoor Gym
D
Restoration & Conservation, Heritage & Creativity
Health activities
funded by Public Health
Proposed
community café,
flexible space,
public toilets and
year round lit
sport facilities.
Project
A
Manor House Grounds
An improved quality of play provision for children,
young people and adults which is aimed at
increasing the levels of physical activity and to
encourage wider participation in a variety of sports.
The refurbished and new facilities will promote
positive activities, greater opportunities and a
healthier lifestyle for all the community to enjoy and
benefit from.
Games
Resurfacing the multi-use games area including
recessed new goals and fencing, with court
markings for football, netball and basketball. Tennis
Resurfacing the tennis court area to include an
additional tennis court with new fencing and nets.
Relax
Removing the existing skate equipment and
replacing with an outdoor table tennis area and
new seating to include clusters of seats and
provision of shade.
Skate
Creating an exciting multi-wheeled facility to
incorporate skate boards, blades, scooters and
BMX bikes.
Play
Redeveloping the play area in partnership with
Abbots Langley Parish Council, to provide a
challenging and exciting play space for children.
Project
B
Arts & Culture Centre
We aim to develop an arts and cultural centre in
the heart of the village. We will provide a space
that enables, supports and promotes activities for
the residents, local groups and societies in the
performing arts, visual and literary aspects of art.
It will be a centre with facilities such as an art
gallery for local artists to exhibit, a community café,
and enhanced lighting and retractable theatre style
seating to encourage performances.
Working in partnership with the Henderson Hub,
there will be a wider and interesting programme of
activities developed to encourage local groups to
meet, engage and be entertained. The community
will be able to enjoy performances, films, group
meetings, art and craft activities and further
activities for older adults to participate in such as
tea dances, can be developed.
The benefits of an arts and cultural centre in the
local community are seen as:
New gallery space for local artists to showcase their work.
n
n More artists sharing their work through stage, gallery and workshops.
n
Enchanced facilities to enjoy performances
n
A wider programme of art and culture
Enables, supports and promotes the activities of local residents, groups and societies in the visual, literary and performing arts to the wider community,
n
This improved space and facility will provide
increased opportunities for the local community to
take part in cultural activities and volunteering to
support events and performances.
Project
C
Learning & Sharing at Leavesden
Country Park
This project comprises of several elements that
will contribute to delivering new and exciting
opportunities into the park.
Park Ranger
Working with the community to share the natural
heritage of the park. Nature walks & talks and
an activity and education programme will be
developed for all to enjoy (subject to external funding).
Community Activity Co-ordinator
In partnership with the YMCA, the employment
of a Community Activities Co-ordinator, working
for the community and developing a wide range
of activities and programmes. There will be a
particular focus on engagement for young people,
older people and recruitment of volunteers.
Heritage Wildlife Centre
A hub for the community, historians, schools
and the ‘Friends of’ groups to meet for guided
walks and activities. The centre will serve as an
information point with display and interpretation
boards explaining the history and biodiversity of the
site (subject to external funding).
Enhancing the picture in the park
YMCA Woodlands Project
Being developed by the YMCA is their Woodlands
Project bringing a community café, flexible space,
public toilets and year round lit sport facilities to
the park.
Cycling routes
Cycling and walking routes are being developed to
connect Leavesden Country Park with both the
Grand Union Canal towpath and the North Orbital
Cycleway; enabling cyclists to travel from Leavesden
to St Albans and many other local towns using one
uninterrupted, virtually traffic-free route.
Project
D
Restoration & Conservation,
Heritage & Creativity
The vision for the park is to collaboratively create a
heritage trail of statement sculptures to celebrate
and recognise the Leavesden Hospitals, the
history of aviation at Leavesden and the story of
Leavesden Film Studios. In addition, there will be
extensive restoration and conservation of vital areas
of the park to ensure the heritage and beauty can
be enhanced and preserved for future generations.
We hope that Leavesden Country Park will be a
unique heritage site of interest, intrigue and beauty
reflective of the whole parish of Abbots Langley.
The Heritage Trail and park
Artists will connect with local people in workshops
to understand and tease out their stories and
experiences. Supported by our creative partner,
Warner Bros. Studios Leavesden, these unique
accounts will be reflected in sculptures within
the park, known as Mind, Machines and Movies.
Activities to include:
Workshops and community activities throughout design and installation of sculptures
n
Health Walks, exercise sessions and guided walks with local historical groups
n
n Memory and reminiscent sessions with partner community organisations
n
Arts programme in the school holidays
Restoration works
The extensive work aims to recognise the history of
the site and explain the importance of Leavesden
to the community.
Restoring and conserving areas such as the
Lychgate, orphanage railings and orchard will
attract community engagement and instil a sense
of ownership and pride.
Minds, Machines & Movies
The following poem, penned by an anonymous
hand, was found attached to a notice board
at Rolls Royce and eloquently laments the
passing of the factory.
It has provided us with the inspiration to
deliver the Abbots Langley Leisure Project.
The Leavesden plant is closing
It’s all been carefully planned
They say there is no option
They’re sure we’ll understand
They blame it on defence cuts
and so we have heard tell
On corporate rationalization
(They can flog the site as well)
Where Halifaxes once were built
At Leavesden Number One
The buildings will be silent
Their useful life now done
While just across the airfield
At Leavesden Number two
They’ll be breaking up the runway
Where once Mosquitoes flew
But the engines that were built here
Like Goblin, Ghost and Gem
The Gypsy, Gnome and Gyron
We’ll long remember them
The Heritage Collection
Alas will have to go
They’re only bits of hardware
Why all these cries of woe?
They may be bits of hardware
But to an engineer
They mean the ‘Leavesden Spirit’
That we created here
And when we’ve all departed
and development begins
We hope we’ll be remembered
In spite of all our sins
When the Cherry Orchard’s vanished
and with it the canteen
Perhaps they’ll build a theme park
Where the factory had been
With part of it devoted to the
Story of the site
and the part we played at Leavesden
In the history of flight.
a flight through time