Gill's park dream

If you have a baby, you need a park to take your pram. When Gill Roles moved to Heathfield from London 24 years ago she was shocked to find there was nothing to fit that bill in the town.

She couldn't believe it and immediately started looking around to find a place which would make a park. Eventually she spotted the ideal site, an old railway cutting, and set about trying to secure it for the town.

Now her dream has come true in the form of the Heathfield and Waldron Millennium Green which is immediately behind the Co-op car park. All these years later here is a park where mums can push their babies and which many other townspeople and visitors can enjoy too.

Agreement

After Mrs Roles found the railway cutting she arranged a meeting with British Rail. And she came away with an agreement that they would give the land to the parish council ... but there was still a long way to go to secure the park.

'I had no idea of how much these things cost to do,' said Mrs Roles. The parish council's instant response was that they couldn't afford to do the necessary work.

So Mrs Roles decided she must become a parish councillor to press on with her plan. She was chair of the recreation grounds and properties committee when the opportunity she had been waiting for arrived.