Springfield Spark Community Fund: Roehampton Wellbeing Women and Girls
Springfield Spark Community Fund is supporting seven organisations in Wandsworth to run creative and inclusive activities at Springfield Park this summer.
In this series, we’re speaking to each group funded by Springfield Spark to hear how they’re making use of the park and how the grant is supporting the health and wellbeing of communities across Wandsworth.
Meet Roehampton Wellbeing for Women and Children
Roehampton Wellbeing for Women and Children is an organisation providing support for Asian families, empowering them to achieve independence and resilience within their communities.
Saira Niazi is an artist, writer, tour guide, and founder of Living London. After taking part in the Wandsworth Borough of Culture Culturally Mindful programme with Roehampton Wellbeing, she was looking for other opportunities to continue working with the group. We spoke to her to find out more.
“Culturally Mindful was an artist-in-residence programme for global majority artists to deliver creative projects with health services and grassroots organisations. I was placed with Roehampton Wellbeing to run an art school for their members, which had brilliant feedback from the women who took part.
“I also live close to Springfield Village and have lots of memories of the space and how it used to be before the new hospital was built. So, when I saw the Springfield Spark Community Fund, I thought it would be a great way to continue working with Roehampton Wellbeing by building on the success of the art school while also making the most of the park that’s on my doorstep.
“One of my roles is as a tour guide, and in recent years I have ended many local tours of Tooting at Springfield Village, where I would talk to attendees about the history of Springfield Hospital and the wider area. I thought I could use this experience to create a series of guided walks for Roehampton Wellbeing that included storytelling, artistic activities, and simple creative practices that were culturally relevant.”
Nature walks, creative practice, and chai and chat
“Over five walks in May, I led an intergenerational group of 15–20 women around Springfield Park, where participants could take part in a range of activities.
“While walking, we used apps to identify different kinds of flowers, trees, and plants, and discussed how some of these could be used in traditional herbal remedies, like rosemary and lavender. Similarly, we explored different areas of the park, like the wildflower meadow and the wetlands, where I talked to the group about the ecology of these areas. It was also a chance to think about alternative methods of healing and how being in nature can support and improve our wellbeing or how we’re feeling.
“Along these walks, we also got to be creative. Across the sessions, we used watercolours, created observational studies of the park, took part in storytelling, and made mixed-media collages. Everyone was so talented!
“At the end of each session, we wandered into Tooting and had chai together, as well as different kinds of street food. One of the highlights of these walks was being in community with each other, and sharing food like this was a real connector and motivator for people to come along. By ending in Tooting, it also helped to give the park context by showing how it fits into the wider area and the other services available nearby.”
Celebrating Eid
“While we tried to make the activities accessible for everyone and provided different options for people to take part, there were some women who couldn’t join us who wanted to.
“We therefore decided to mark the end of the project by bringing it to them with an Eid al-Adha celebration in Roehampton. About 40 people came to the Manresa Club Room at the Alton Estate, where we not only celebrated Eid together but also talked about what we’ve been doing on our nature walks and tried some of the activities at the party.”
What has been the impact of this funding?
“No one had been to the park before! Many of the women who attended are from farming or rural backgrounds, so living in an urban, built-up area like the Alton Estate in Roehampton is a big change for them. By being in such a green space, they were able to reconnect with their homes and develop a greater sense of belonging in London. It has also helped people to feel safe in the park and confident to self-organise future nature walks.
“Walking and being outside is also a great way for people to talk about their mental health. It helped the women to feel less self-conscious than if they were in a traditional therapy session. Walking also helped people to feel comfortable before we all got together for chai and a chat. Everyone became quite friendly by the end, and people appreciated that they could share as little or as much as they wanted.
“This was really important, as for many of these women, talking about mental health is difficult, even though several of them were experiencing symptoms of depression or anxiety. I was so pleased that over the course of the walks, these same women said how much better they were feeling and that coming together like this was the highlight of their week.
“It’s also helped to destigmatise NHS mental health services. In other countries, mental health hospitals are often unwelcoming and shut away from the wider community – which is how I remember the old Springfield Hospital being. Seeing how Springfield Village is set up now, with flats, cafés, and the park integrated with the hospital, is completely different to what they expected. It positions the Trust as a third space for everyone to use and helps people to not be afraid if they need to get support for their mental health.
“At one session, we were also joined by a doctor who specialises in end-of-life care. As she was from a South Asian background, there was a sense that everyone felt heard, understood, and more connected because she could share information and answer questions in a culturally sensitive way.
“We are definitely looking at more opportunities like this in the future, as it’s been such a lovely project that’s made a real difference to everyone who took part!”
About Springfield Spark
This fund is made possible through Springfield Village, a partnership between our Trust, Barratt London, London Square and City & Country, supported by master developer STEP. The fund was open to constituted community groups, charities and social enterprises in the London Borough of Wandsworth, with a focus on Tooting, Earlsfield and Balham.
