Friday 20 August was a big day for local residents on Grahame Park, as we hosted our annual Urban Gamez inspired event for this year ‘Rise to the Challenge’

This year’s event sponsored by Morgan Sindall, Quinn London and Notting Hill Genesis, and supported by Greater London Leisure Ltd, FUSE Youth Project, Nutmeg Community and Barnet Council, saw over 150 people join us to watch 90 young people compete in a timed trial of our ‘Danger Zone’ obstacle course on Heybourne Park, Colindale.

The day marked Barnet Homes first major event since the start of the pandemic, and it was great to see the residents from the Grahame Park community come together again.

Children and young people competed against one another in an 80-foot-long inflatable obstacle course. To rise to the challenge, they climbed over humps, battled through the biff bash zone, attacked the tyre section and skimmed down the final slide. Competitors with the fastest time of their age group and gender were crowned the winners. All young people and children who took part received a free tee-shirt and a reusable Voicebox water bottle.

We had the pleasure of welcoming The Deputy Mayor of Barnet, Councillor Saira Don who kindly hosted our medals ceremony, alongside Elliot Sweetman, Director of Operations and Property for The Barnet Group and Farley Harris-Brown, Contract Manager from Quinn London who presented each winner with a £30 gift voucher

Throughout the day, our partners Greenwich Leisure Ltd and F.U.S.E Youth Project kept competitors active with a range of sports activities, whilst they waited to take up their challenge. Meanwhile, waiting parents and local residents had a chance to talk to Inner Circle Consulting about the future regeneration of the Grahame Park.

Tim Blanc, Head of Community Engagement for The Barnet Group added,

“Along with our partners, we felt it was important to remind local residents, especially young people that we are here and care about their physical and mental wellbeing during these challenging times. We will continue to provide young people with opportunities to stay active and experience a little of what they have been missing during Covid. We are really looking forward in pulling out all the stops 2022 and having residents join us to celebrate the tenth anniversary of Urban Gamez”

We would like to thank all our staff, volunteers and sponsors, without whom Urban Gamez 2021 would not have been possible.

Check out the images from Urban Gamez – Kids rise to the challenge at Urban Gamez 2021 – YouTube