Park of the week

52. Centenary Park

This park is in Stanmore – we went there when I could turn right at the end of the road without Jack shouting “I told you to turn left” for the rest of the journey. The park is spacious and on a slight slope, and there is plenty of room to walk. This contrasts with some places we’ve visited lately, which comprise playgrounds (the reason I chose them) but little else. So, although we’ve now visited 153 parks, I won’t be writing about all of them, especially those on my list where I’ve commented “bleak”. Now that the days are longer and, I hope, the weather is improving, I am going to have to insist on our visiting places where we can walk, whether there’s a “big lying-down swing”, a “chair swing”, or not. 

Centenary Park was added to the area’s public open space in 1934 when the local authority acquired the land. It’s called after the centenary of local government. Although the park is mainly a large open space, it has the remains of a formal layout with a tree set in a circular lawn near the main entrance and another bed planted with heather and conifers. A path around the edge is planted with London plane trees.

Centenary park has two floodlit football pitches available for hire, bowling green, tennis courts, pitch and putt golf course, exercise machines, and playgrounds for younger and older children. There are benches to rest on and paths for walking. This was good for us as quite a few places we’ve visited didn’t seem to have any paths and we have had to squelch our way across mud and waterlogged grass. But not at Centenary Park, where the paths are also wide enough for wheelchairs. Dog walking is allowed.

The park has a café, with space to sit outside. There are toilets. There is no car park but it’s possible to park on nearby streets. There are entrances from Burnell Gardens, Crowshott avenue and Culver Grove, Stanmore.

Judith Field

Centenary Park, 135 Culver Grove, Stanmore, HA7 2NW