Islington Ecology Centre, which hosts leisure and education events, has finally reopened to organised pre-booked groups this week, after the national lockdown came to an end on 2 December.
The groups that will now be able to use the space, in Gillespie Park, include baby sing and sign classes, dance classes for children and bereavement counselling groups. It will also be open to support volunteer sessions in Gillespie Park and outdoor environmental education sessions.
The centre has been largely closed to the public since the first lockdown back in March, only opening briefly once a week to the general public while London was placed in the Tier One restrictions this autumn.
Sally Oldfield, Nature Conservation Manager at Islington Council who works closely with IEC, told Islington Now: “It is a shame that we had to remain closed over the summer.”
She explained why the centre had been closed for so long: “This was due to a range of factors including staff availability and also having to put in place a number of measures to ensure that the centre complies with Covid secure guidelines. We have worked with guidance from Public Health to ensure that we are working in the safest way possible.”
The measures introduced over the summer include extra cleaning and placing signs and markers to keep people apart.
London will be in Tier Two when the lockdown is eased, but if it were to move into Tier One then Oldfield hopes to increase opening hours again.
