Peter Pan's Pool and Peter Pan's Park

Until the building boom in the 1920s consumed much available land, the area around the pond was a hamlet known as Southend Village. The pool is one of the oldest ponds in Lewisham and at one time this facility was of considerable local significance. It reputedly contained the island on which the Irish rebel Jack Cade hid in the C15th. The Ravensbourne River, which runs through the new pocket park, was the source for two watermills (originally corn mills) at Southend, and it was the Lower Mill that later became Peter Pan's Pool. Despite the mills, the village was somewhat isolated and development here was slow until the railways in the late C19th sparked urban sprawl. In 1897 a fountain commemorating Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee was erected nearby at the junction of Beckenham Hill Road and Bromley Road. Trams reached the area after 1914 giving access to local families for recreation here.

Peter Pan's Pool opened in 1922 as a 'children's pleasure land' (reported on in the 'Beckenham Journal' and 'Lewisham Borough News'). The site included a boating lake, trees, gardens and a small funfair, sandpit and playpark. The owners of the pool and J.M. Barrie (author of 'Peter Pan') agreed on the use of the name with the proviso that all the pool profits go to Great Ormond Street Hospital. After a branch of Homebase was built on the site of the pleasure ground the present visitor to the pool can only view it from a distance. The first Homebase DIY supermarket was opened by Sainsbury's in Croydon in 1981, and the Catford Homebase soon followed in 1983, its design imitating that of the Crystal Palace. The store is located behind Peter Pan's Pond. In the middle of the pond is Andre Wallace's sculpture, 'The Whisper', which depicts two young women sitting together, one leaning towards the other to whisper something behind her hand. The sculpture was commissioned by J. Sainsbury in 1983 who had seen a maquette by the artist of two girls seated on a railing. The sculpture was subsequently shown at the Royal Academy, as a result of which another version in the edition of 3 was commissioned by Milton Keynes Development Corporation for a site outside Milton Keynes Library.  

In 2014 the local community took action, which led to the creation of Peter Pan's Park on a neglected area of green space across Beckenham Hill Road from the pool, as a place for locals to enjoy. 'We gained funding on a strip of underused green space to create a pocket park in the heart of the Phoenix Community. The Ravensbourne river flows directly through the space. We will be removing the ugly metal fencing to replace it with beautiful new hedges, wild flower areas, pathways, seating areas for the public and also a wildlife area on the other side of the river. The name for our green space will be Peter Pan's Park as it is sited next to a patch of land which was formerly Peter Pan's Pool.'

The new park was developed by Phoenix Community Housing, with funding from Pocket Parks, and voluntary support from the local community. Soldiers from Catford’s 221 Field Regiment cleared the site in May 2014, and local schoolchildren helped to plant flowerbeds and the wildflower garden, under the guidance of former Blue Peter gardener, Chris Collins. Peter Pan's Park was formally opened on 30 September 2014 by the Mayor of Lewisham, Sir Steve Bullock. Phoenix Chief Executive, Jim Ripley, said: 'We were delighted to receive funding for this important project and are very proud to welcome people to Peter Pan’s Park. Much of the project’s success is owed to the residents, groups and volunteers that gave so much of their time to deliver a new green space for the whole of the local community.' Peter Pan's Park is owned by Phoenix Community Housing.

The GLA’s Pocket Parks scheme, an initiative of the Mayor of London’s drive to create 100 Pocket Parks across London, was launched in 2013, with community grants of up to £20,000 available. The community fund was part of a £2m investment to bring 100 underused urban spaces back into use by March 2015. The scheme was delivered by Groundwork and enabled the creation of more than 100 pocket parks across 26 London boroughs, and ranged from community orchards to edible bus stops, the first to open being in Stockwell. A Pocket Park, defined as ‘a piece of land of up to 0.4 hectares, which may already be underdeveloped or derelict’, is considered to provide a small area of inviting public green space where people can relax, exercise, socialise and play, and can be natural and/or formal in character.

In 2016 the Pocket Parks initiative went England-wide with a £1.5m fund launched by the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG). Community groups were invited to apply for grants up to £15,000, but applicants were also required to raise match funding from other sources. This led to 87 funded projects across the country, although no projects were in London. In 2018 the Pocket Parks Plus Scheme was launched by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG), eventually making £3.75m available when it was widened to include not only new pocket parks but also projects to refurbish existing parks or parts of parks. This led to funding 198 projects, which included 32 projects in London. The third funding round was launched by MHCLG in 2019 and on 3 March 2020, World Wildlife Day, the recipients of the £1.35m fund were announced. Of the 68 winners, 10 are in London. The government has now provided 352 grants to support community groups to create 146 new parks and give a vital boost to 206 derelict urban spaces in towns and cities in every region of the country.