STORY TRAIL BACKGROUND INFORMATION

ABOUT THE STORY TRAIL PROJECT

The Story Trail Project is a celebration of the past, present and future of Regent’s Park Estate, promoting a sense of community, safety and connection. Through nine unique art installations the Story Trail will take the community on a journey through the estate creating opportunities to shape, reconnect and look differently at the area.

HOW THE STORY TRAIL PROJECT BEGAN:

“The Project began when I put together a presentation for our Community Champions group  - I took pictures of the area and included one of my favourite trees in Clarence Gardens. The tree has come to be known as the Story Tree.
 

Our Community Champions group was formed during lockdown and we got to know each other online. I wanted to share a little of what I had been finding out about the area, in particular, my favourite tree. I loved the idea of the tree being a living thing that has growing roots with its many leaves representing all the residents over the years, and its majestic canopy shading us in the summer.  

I moved to the area in 2000 and at the time I had a two year old daughter and a three year old son to drop off at nursery and the childminders before work. My route was to walk through Clarence Gardens most days, often pushing a buggy or holding my children’s hands. I used to point out the huge old Plane tree to them and talked to them about it – saying things like: “If this tree could talk what stories do you think it would tell?”

It was kind of a game for us – but it did make me want to find out more about the tree, for example, how old it was and how did it get there? So, I then began to do some research into how old the tree might be and I also discovered all sorts of amazing facts about the area we live in and how it was full of artists and lots of famous people.

The Community Champions liked the idea of researching stories about our area from over the years and especially the idea of the tree witnessing everything. This helped us to bond as a group by sharing our own stories of how we came to live in the area and how special our area is. And how lucky we are to live in such an amazing place! 

The Community Champions are very family orientated and it’s lovely to think that our children will have their own stories to tell including all the changes taking place because of HS2 and re-housing. We all have roots in Regent’s Park Estate and are all as much a part of the estate as the beautiful, living Story Tree.

This research inspired me to put a presentation together to tell other Community Champions about our area and what had taken place in the “olden days”. For example, there was a famous girls club (we still have one), artists including Robert Polhill Bevan and the Cumberland Group of artists, and the Esperance Morris Dancers, an all women’s folk dance group founded in the mid-1890s by Emmeline Pethick-Lawrence and Mary Neal for working class girls in response to distressing conditions for girls in the London dress trade. The Esperance Club was based at 50 Cumberland Gardens.

A few years ago, within a short space of time, there was a stabbing and a shooting in Clarence Gardens. I really hated the idea that the gardens would be known for that and not feel safe and would give our young people the idea that that kind of behaviour is ok and to be expected on our estate. 

I want people to be proud of where they live and what they have on their doorstep  - rather than be afraid. The Story Tree is so beautiful, old and special and deserves to be celebrated. It was so magical having the iIluminations Festival there last Christmas which brought people out of their homes and into the square to be together. To me that is what being in a community is about. In my opinion the good, the bad, the ugly, and the sad can all be overcome with togetherness to make it a special place to live. We need to celebrate our roots more!”

 Marie Rajotte, Resident and Community Champion Regent’s Park Estate

To hear more stories from local people, here is a link to a set of audio stories, collected at the Regent’s Roots Festival by Lucia Scazzocchio from Social Broadcasts.

Read collected stories, ideas and memories collated by members of the Story Trail team.

The Story Trail was first conceived during the pandemic between residents and Regent’s Park Community Champions, a public-health funded social action project managed by Fitzrovia Youth in Action - created with, by and for the local community. 

The Story Trail is produced by Old Diorama Arts Centre (ODAC), in partnership with UAL Central Saint Martins (as part of the EU-funded T-Factor research project) and Camden Council Parks and Open Spaces Team.

As a wellbeing-focussed project the Regent’s Park Community Champions created a range of in-person activities and events to tackle social isolation, to encourage connection to the community and to nature, alongside delivering positive actions across the estate. By representing the voices of local residents, alongside creative practitioners from Central Saint Martins, they have gathered detailed information encompassing personal and historical stories, local aspirations, a series of emerging themes, as well as identifying many issues of concern for residents.

SPECIFIC ISSUES AND CONCERNS

  • Dumping of (domestic) rubbish and general littering

  • Fear of crime

  • Anti-social behaviour - drug taking, loitering, graffiti 

  • Poorly lit areas and alleyways

  • Fly-tipping

  • Areas that are hard to navigate by foot, pushchair and wheelchairs

  • Lack of signposting to facilities including GP, Schools, Youth Club/s, green spaces

  • No public toilet facilities on the estate - especially inconvenient at the communal green spaces and children’s play areas.

Access to a full document, made in partnership between the T-Factor and the Community Champions exploring concerns and opportunities with local people.

EMERGING THEMES

Through events and activities detailed feedback was gathered from residents and the local community about their experiences of living and/or working on the estate. 

Amongst the positive memories and stories to celebrate a series of themes is emerging, these include:

  • Women and Women's Empowerment - Mary Neal & the Esperance Folk Dance, Charlotte Mew

  • Art & Artists – Cumberland group of Artists

  • Dance  (Esperance English Folk Dance, Remix Dance)

  • Music

  • Food - cooking and growing and sharing at Community Kitchen, Surma Centre feeding 400 people a week; Community Allotments - Pangbourne & Peabody Allotments

  • Home - Loss of Home/s

  • Migration – Immigration

  • Safety - Feeling Safe/Unsafe

  • LGBTQI+

  • Acts of Community Kindness

  • Family

In conversations residents regularly raise their concerns and the issues that affect them and their day to day lives on the estate. Top of the list is the perpetual issue of domestic rubbish dumping.

THE STORY TRAIL INSTALLATION SITES

Co-created with residents, the original long-list of sites included over twenty areas from across the estate selected as potential locations for art installations and enhancement interventions. Those sites have now been shortlisted to nine main areas or clusters, identified as ‘places of interest’ with stories, themes and heritage to celebrate and/or issues to be addressed:

  1. EVERTON MEWS: Issue & Opportunity: This is an area of fly-tipping, littering and perpetual rubbish dumping as well as anti-social behaviour including drug taking. As a key access route into/through the estate, it would be an ideal cut-through to  Netley Primary School, however, it’s not an appealing route for families. Lots of work has already taken place to try to improve the area.

  2. STANHOPE STREET AREA: Issue & Opportunity: The walk-through route doesn’t feel safe or easy to navigate. The steps down to Munster Square are uneven and need to be made safer and much more accessible.
    - Stanhope Street Walls: Issue & Opportunity: Neglected and graffiti-covered walls, piles of rubbish on the pavement - in need of TLC and artistic intervention.
    - Stanhope Street Alleyway: Issue & Opportunity: It doesn’t feel safe - it’s long, lurky and empty - there is a fear of crime & anti-social behaviour.

  3. MUNSTER SQUARE AREA: Stories to Celebrate:  There are lots of fascinating stories, people and histories connected to Munster Square - for example, the Irish workers from Munster in Ireland who gave the square its name; Mary Magdalene Church - celebrating its link to the LGBTQ+ community and the gay bar that was located underneath the Church in the 1970’s, the Female iconography in the church.
    - Munster Square Wall Space: Opportunity: A blank canvas for a large-scale mural or other artistic intervention.

  4. SWALLOWFIELD AREA: Paved area behind Swallowfield & between Ravenglass and Albany Street: Large, empty, paved area with lots of potential for artwork, & greening interventions.

  5. PANGBOURNE MEADOW WALL:  Issue & Opportunity: The walls need attention and care - maybe a mural or a wall celebrating local acts of community kindness? The meadow area needs enhancement. There are also ideas to create a space for reflection within the meadow area.

  6. CLARENCE GARDENS: Stories to Celebrate: The 300-year-old Story Tree grows here! It was the inspiration for the Story Trail and we’d love to hear more stories and memories, past, present and future connected to this area.

  7. CITIZENS ADVICE BUREAU AREA: Issue & Opportunity: The large area around the Citizens Advice Bureau feels neglected, has issues of anti-social behaviour. Games such as Hopscotch, and Snakes & Ladders would add colour & positive ways to interact with the space.
    - Citizens Advice Wall Panels, Robert Street: Issue & Opportunity: The walls along this row of the CAB are neglected and attract graffiti and in need of attention. Additional colour could be added by changing the lights. There are also memories of the former Library which could perhaps be celebrated in a mural?

  8. CUMBERLAND MARKET: Stories to Celebrate: There are many fascinating stories, people and histories connected to Cumberland Market, including: Charlotte Mew, Poet (1869-1928); Mary Neal & the Esperance Morris Folk Dance Club (1860-1944); The Regent’s Canal & Regent’s Park Basin; Artist Robert Polhill Bevan (1865-1925); the Cumberland Group of Artists; Gin & Vinegar Factories; Remix Dance (2017 to present).

  9. LOST SPACES - Commemorating and celebrating the many lost spaces across the estate: including homes, green spaces and pubs: Silverdale House, Ainsdale House, Eskdale House, Granby House, Stalbridge House, Old Tenants House, St James’ Gardens, The Children’s Community Playground of Cumberland Market, some of the Lost Pubs include: The Victory, Goat in Boots, Kings Head, Cape of Good Hope.