HIGHBURY ROUNDHOUSE

Stay & Play and Soft play for 0-5 years

What Highbury Roundhouse says

We welcome childminders, carers and parents to our Stay & Play, which is ideal for relaxing and meeting new friends, exchanging ideas and tips on local amenities while the children play in a safe, stimulating, and friendly environment with a wide range of toys and equipment. We would like to invite carers from various cultural and social backgrounds to share their experiences. We offer support, good practice, and advice on children's early years. During our sessions, the children are encouraged to join in various educational activities that will help them develop their emotional and physical skills to their full potential.
We offer an outside space at the rear with a ramp for easy access.

About

Highbury Roundhouse was initially founded by the late Major Bay Hodgson, who served with distinction in the Household Cavalry. After retiring from the Army, Bay settled in Highbury. It was not too long before Bay realised that there was plenty of work to do in Highbury, in helping young people who had nowhere to go and nothing to do.

To understand why and how the community centre came about, we need to go back to the early 1970s, when youngsters would often hang out at the "roundhouse" that is now the playground keeper's hut at the bottom of Highbury Fields. Bay and others in the neighbourhood had the foresight to not just simply want to move them on but actually do something for them. He managed to obtain permission from the then GLC, to use the now-demolished "bottleworks" building at 71 Ronald's Road as a youth club.

Before that could happen, the building had to be refurbished. Bay and a group of local people managed to raise a number of grants from the local authority and commissioned a project with the Manpower Services Commission to build the new centre. Some of the refurbishment was done by a group of young people with the help of a skilled tradesman. Over the years, Bay, together with other members of the community, directed the organisation into a thriving community centre.
A new community centre was built on the old site and it has opened in February 2023, providing space for a range of activities to help our younger service users increase their skills, encourage aspiration and help them attain their full potential, whilst at the same time being able to care for our older residents and put a stop to social isolation.

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