April 2022 - Hardie Park News

Spring has sprung

Great news....we are back on track with cafe opening hours returning to our advertised daily 10-3 with the pop-up community food available from 11.

Thank you for your patience over the last month. This situation really highlights how much we need your help, we are always looking for new volunteers. If you have some free time please pop in for a chat or sign up on our online form to get things started. It really is a fun and engaging thing to do for yourself and your community.

You may have seen on social media our statement regarding the winding down of our Cycle Hub in the park. Please take a minute to read the official communication explaining the reasons for closure below. 

As always, your continued support of the park and it's projects is much appreciated. We are in this together, our community and volunteers are at the heart of Hardie Park.

BIG Bike Sale 1st May

We’ve had two and a half wonderful years of the Cycle Hub in the park at Hardie. In that time the project has achieved so much despite the effects of the pandemic. We have turned around and sold hundreds of donated bikes and serviced many for avid cyclists in the local area.However, it is with great sadness that we have decided to wind down the cycle hub project. Although the Cycle Hub is ethically wonderful, as a business, having saturated the local 2nd hand market is sadly not proving financially viable long term without consistent grants and applications for funding. Our cycle guru manager, Matt Hill will be with us until June, our bike mechanic Ross left us on 8th April having secured himself a full-time job in the cycle industry. We are sure you'll join us in wishing them both the best of luck moving forward Please take a minute to read our Trustee's full statement here >> https://preview.mailerlite.com/o3k7q1v9i5

If you have any questions regarding the decision, please contact us directly by email > trustees@friendsofhardiepark.co.uk <

Rotary Club's Spring Day

We are excited to be hosting Rotary East Thurrock ‘s Spring Day on Saturday 14 May from 10.30am

The Rotary Club support a number of good causes over the course of the year and we really hope you are able to support their event at the park. 

It promises to be day of family fun with a free dog show, plant sale and kiddies rides. The cycle hub will be selling bikes, pop along if you need some wheels. Hardie Cafe will be serving Rossi ice creams, Italian coffees and snacks, let's keep our fingers crossed for some sunshine to make it a perfect day. 

Lorry driving cyclists visit cafe

A group of lorry drivers on bikes arrived at the cafe this week. They stopped by for a coffee and explained to our volunteers that they were completing part of their Sigma Safe Urban Driving Training (FORS Accreditation) by riding bikes on the road to understand how cyclists feel sharing the road with lorries. 

It was a pleasure to meet you all, we hope you enjoyed a relaxing pitstop in the park.