Playground's message for the future

Work at EC1’s new Three Corners Centre is well under way and children at the nearby Three Corners Adventure Playground have assembled a collection of memorabilia for a time capsule that will show future generations what life is like today.

The time capsule, supplied by the site’s main contractor, Mansell Partnership Housing, was buried in the foundations of the new Three Corners Centre on Tuesday 9 December and contains photographs, local newspapers, toys, plans for the new centre and a special letter written by 10-year-old Rae Walsh:

To all future people,
You are probably hearing this years from now but I think this new building will make a lot of people happy and me too.
I love Three Corners and I hope everyone will love it too.
Rae Walsh age 10

A plaque marking the burial spot, situated on a path that will run in front of the new centre, will give instructions for the time capsule to be unearthed in fifty years time.

The £2.4 million building is funded by EC1 New Deal for Communities, Islington Council and the Learning and Skills Council. Children, young people and adults will benefit from a new two-storey community centre including play, youth and adult learning facilities.

The upper floor will provide services for young people aged 12 to 20 and the building will also house a new adult learning centre; the first of its kind in the south of Islington. This will be used for training and employment services for adults and will also be open for use by voluntary and community groups.

Matthew Humphreys, Chair of the EC1 New Deal for Communities board said:

“This is a really significant project for us. It’s good to know we are investing in a community centre that will help people living in the area for many years to come and long after the EC1 New Deal for Communities programme comes to an end in 2011.”

Paula Belford, Islington Council’s Executive Member for Children and Young said:

“This is a fantastic way of involving young people in the future of Three Corners and I hope that children, young people and adults will still be benefiting from the services on offer in fifty years time.”

Further information

The Three Corners site is being developed with funding from EC1 New Deal for Communities (£1.7m) Islington Council (£193,000),) and the Learning and Skills Council (£569,000).

EC1 New Deal for Communities has already invested a further £250,000 in the development of plans for the site.

Funding from Islington Council is broken down as follows:
£100,000 from Children’s Services
£30,000 from Islington Council’s Climate Fund
£63,000 from Environment and Regeneration

Permission for the building plans was granted at the South Area Committee meeting on 1 September 2008.

The project is due to be finished autumn 2009.