Clissold Park’s anniversary celebrations set to be breath of fresh air

Picnickers in Clissold Park in summer. Photograph: Hackney Citizen

It is home to playgrounds and parakeets, and now Clissold Park is gearing up to celebrate 125 years of freeing parents from hyperactive children and providing us all with the opportunity to observe how much goats look like old men – among other things.

The Clissold Park User Group is asking for ideas to mark the momentous anniversary of the cherished Stoke Newington Green Space at a series of events to take place between 21 and 26 of June this year.

The group will unveil a restored fountain in memory of John Runtz and Joseph Beck, the activists who persuaded the council to open Clissold Park to the public in 1889.

The park is hugely popular and has had two million visitors since May last year.

It is home to Clissold House, a listed building originally owned by a Quaker and anti-slavery campaigner and which now contains event space and a café.

Other attractions include a paddling pool in the summer, lakes, a butterfly dome, a Growing Communities organic food market, table tennis tables and a small zoo containing birds, deer, goats and other animals.