Park pals

Jim Walker has a great friend – his local park!

When he and his wife May moved back to Corstorphine six years ago, they were horrified by the state of Gyle Park, which their house overlooks. Dog fouling, vandalism and strewn litter were unpleasant blights on what was once a tranquil park.

“It was messy, covered in litter, with obscene graffiti in the children’s play area and intimidating gangs of youths hanging around,” recalled Jim. “We wanted to make it as good as a place to live as we can.”

Jim and May raised their children in Corstorphine before moving to Balerno for 20 years. Returning to find the park in such a state, Jim vowed to make a difference.

When Gylemuir Primary School held a meeting to discuss ways to improve the park, Jim volunteered to become chairman of a new action group,The Friends of The Gyle.

Over the next six years, he made huge improvements to the park with the help of his community parks officer, Douglas Cruickshank.

Jim drummed up interest with residents, notified the Council to organise a clean-up of the graffiti and litter and the Police were alerted about every disturbance in order to compile a database of trouble hotspots they could take action on.

“We applied a zero tolerance approach and it has improved beyond all recognition,” said Jim.

The Friends of The Gyle also received several grants to make improvements. And, while the scheme has been a huge success, Jim wants to do more.

“Improving the park was a gradual process over six years. We’re not going to let it slip. We have scheduled meetings now and again and the numbers of people interested has really risen. It just shows that anyone can make a difference in improving their local park.”