In October 2021 the Friends of Tower Hamlets Cemetery Park were given a 30-year lease by The London Borough of Tower Hamlets for the use of the old cemetery lodge, located just by the main gates in the Cemetery Park. 
The Lodge has been brought back from disrepair by the council, but it is our now on the Friends to take this run down building and make it into a wonderful space for our charity to work from as well as to host events, welcome volunteers and celebrate the story of the Cemetery Park. 
We have made several improvements to the Lodge to make it a safe working environment over the past year or so. Security systems (fire and intruder alarms) were installed in late 2021 and a small office space was refurbished (although it still needs some tweaks to make it functional). The remaining work to make the Lodge a usable space includes the finishing and decorating of a volunteer room with a small kitchen, a visitor room and the accessible toilet facilities. These are by no means our final plans but it will provide us with a safe workable space whilst we continue to work on how we will make the Lodge into a fantastic community space over the next 5 to 10 years. 
Currently, the Friends have no designated home, our volunteers and visitors must go to a different building, the Soanes Centre, a very busy facility in the park that is run by another charity. Our 3 full-time staff currently work from a cupboard-sized room that by no means meets our current needs. Completing the refurbishment of the Lodge will provide a dedicated building for the Friends, something that we have lacked since our creation in 1990. 
With the use of the Lodge, we will be able to eventually create a welcoming space for park users and volunteers, create a Visitor Centre and establish a secure presence for us so that we can grow as a charity. 
To finish the initial refurbishment of the Lodge, which would allow our team to move into a building that can accommodate our needs and give us space to grow requires a budget of £20,000 plus around £5,000 to pay for furniture, shelving, office equipment and kitchen equipment to keep our volunteers topped up with teas! 

We have currently have raised £15,000 of this from our funders but need other support to make it happen. 
Every penny donated helps us get closer to our dream!