Harrow Recreation Ground Users Association - HRUA

05/08/2026

Another sunny Sunday, another lovely Music in the Park afternoon. Last Sunday we welcomed the return of Harrow Apollo Men's Choir - what a treat after their inaugural outdoor concert for us last year - and they wowed us again with a programme that included fun, rousing, and spine-tingling moments.

This year the choir was boosted by new singers who participated in the Men United In Song benefit concert for Prostate Cancer UK.

As usual, the Derek Hart Collective, and Mark Jeffries, Singer Songwriter, warmed things up and kept the music flowing. And, this week, we were fortunate to hear the young and talented Dune perform four of his own songs. He's still studying at the Academy of Contemporary Music (ACM) in Guildford, but seems to have a great future beckoning in the music industry.

Lovely weather, lovely music, and did I mention the HRUA volunteer team that made the event happen? As ever, and huge thank you is due to our hard-working volunteers who made the event happen and cleared up afterwards. Also, thanks to our fantastic cake and refreshment makers - home-made all.

30/07/2026

Calling all music lovers! The last of our 2026 Music in the Park concerts is in Harrow Rec this Sunday, 2nd August, from 2pm.

This month we are excited to welcome back The Harrow Apollo Male Choir. If you were lucky enough to see their inaugural open air concert for us last year you will know what a treat we are in for.

As usual, our famous homemade cakes and refreshments will be available, too.

23/07/2026

Parents! Grandparents! Carers!

This Saturday - just off Pinner View, opp. St Georges Church.

Our friends at Headstone Green are holding their Party in the Park - "A fun-filled day for little ones and their families!"

19/07/2026

If you were in the park last week on Monday you may have seen this gathering of Harrow Councillors (including the leader Cllr Paul Osborne, and Cllr Janet Mote, parks portfolio holder) council officers, HRUA volunteers and members of the public who just happened to wander by.

We were all there to celebrate another successful "Green Flag" year for Harrow's Parks. This year 10 parks have been awarded the coveted flag, including our park.

The Green Flag award is a national scheme. It recognises the best parks and open spaces in the UK. It shows that a park is well maintained, has great facilities, and meets the community's needs. The achievement reflects the support of our council, and especially the hard work of the council’s Green Team.

Also, it would not have happened without the support and work of the borough's park friends groups and users associations, like HRUA, and of course our dedicated team of volunteers.

Congratulations, and well done to everyone involved!

29/06/2026

Coming to our park this Sunday 5th July, 2pm...

Harrow Steel + support.

This local youth band has been a regular feature at our Sunday music events. If you haven't seen them perform before you are in for a treat!

03/06/2026

ALL CHANGE PLEASE – COMINGS AND GOINGS AROUND THE PARK

As the HRUA committee and our volunteers go about our work in the park we are very fortunate to have the active support of Harrow Council officers, elected councillors, and the officers of the local Metropolitan Police Service, who work with us to keep the park looking great, ensure park users’ safety, help us to resolve issues when they arise, and provide us with funds for the various improvement projects that are always needed.

Following the completion of the local elections for Harrow Council in May, we are saying goodbye to three former Headstone Ward councillors who have been constant in their support of the park, and generous in funding our projects. We would like to thank ex-councillors Simon Brown, Sasikala Suresh, and Natasha Proctor for their contribution to the life of our park.

At the same time HRUA would like to congratulate our new Headstone councillors, Raymond Grant, Arunasalam Raj and Meera Vadher, on their election, and we look forward to getting to know them and to welcoming them in the park soon, once they have found their desks.

The outgoing Lady Mayor, Cllr Anjana Patel, deserves special recognition for her regular support during her year of service – we were pleased to welcome her again for our recent Kites & Bikes event – so on behalf of Harrow Recreation Ground Users Association (HRUA), thank you for the support you have given us during your year as Mayor. We hope you will continue to come to our events.

Finally, as he takes up training to become a Police Constable, our thanks are due to PCSO Zani Camaj, for his work in our park, and we welcome the arrival of sergeant Killian Kissane, to the Headstone Safer Neighbourhood Police Team (SNT).

The next meeting of our Safer Neighbourhood Panel and Crime Prevention Advisory Group is on Saturday 1 August between 10.30-12.00 in the park Green Pavilion. Message [email protected] for more information.

The Officers, Management Committee and volunteers of Harrow Recreation Ground Users Association

22/05/2026

UPDATED 19/7/26 - LOCATION CORRECTION

Headstone Safer Neighbourhood Panel (SNP) and parks’ Crime Prevention Advisory Group

next meeting of our group is on Saturday 1 August between 10.30-12.00 at the White Pavilion in Headstone Manor Park.

Location: https://what3words.com/wished.senior.pram

For those unacquainted with the Headstone SNP, it is a partnership, between park users, residents, our neighbourhood police teams and the council, which aims to improve safety and security by identifying and reducing crime and Anti-Social Behaviour (ASB), throughout the ward in which our 2 parks, Harrow Rec Ground and Headstone Manor, are located. Although the parks cover 10% of the ward, 70% of the reported crimes and ASBs emanate within or near them.

With the recent election of new councillors to the ward, and the arrival of our new sergeant Killian Kissane to the Headstone Safer Neighbourhood Police Team (SNT), the August meeting is an opportunity both to review our work and plan for the coming 12 months. We will establish new objectives for our parks and ward, discuss new initiatives, and highlight some of the key issues of crime and anti-social behaviour within our community.

Thankfully, crime incidents are relatively rare in our parks, but we need continued vigilance and monitoring. According to reported crime figures, Harrow is now the Safest Borough in London; however, crime and ASB may go unreported and it is therefore essential to report, ensure there is a reference number- useful both as an audit trail of outcome and as evidence for prioritising and targeting police and council resources.

Finally, along with welcoming our new councillors, we would like to thank our former councillors for their regular and constant support and thank Zani Camaj our Police Constable Support Officer for his work in our parks, as he takes up full training to become a Police Constable.

If you have any queries/would like to keep updated through our mailing list, and/or volunteer to support our team of gate locking volunteers in the evenings for Beresford, Cunningham Park, Roxborough Rd and Roxborough alley way gates, please contact email me at [email protected]

Gerry Mahaffey, co-chair Headstone SNP and parks’ CPAG

18/05/2026

Volunteering in your local park. An opportunity to learn new skills (dog warden) and find new friends (Luna). Luna had escaped from a neighbouring garden and was trying to raid the cake stall.

The young lady pictured was the hero of the hour, managing to read the name and phone number off the almost illegible dog tag.

All ended well when a friend of the owner came to collect the escapee.

14/05/2026

Some of you will have seen that we have rough sleepers in our park recently.

The best way to help rough sleepers access the services they need, wherever you see them, is via the Street link website: thestreetlink.org.uk/

In the mean time, if you should meet our guests, please remember we are all of us just a few shocks away from homelessness, so treat them with respect and kindness.

Welcome to StreetLink. Make an alert if you've seen someone sleeping rough, or if you're sleeping rough and want to find out about local support services.

12/05/2026

"Well I'm not sure... no, it's definitely a tree"

On a cold and windy Sunday a hardy group joined our park tree expert, John Wells, for the Spring Tree Walk.

As ever, John was his informative and amusing self. In these picture we are not peering at the tree itself, but at orange "Xanthoria" lichens, trying to see the "fairy cup" fruits. These lichens feed on atmospheric polution - nitrates from vehicle exhaust.