Adult winner, Ayesha Khan's winning photograph of trees blossoming in the Queen Caroline Estate
Six talented snappers on the Queen Caroline Estate in Hammersmith have picked up prizes after photographing green schemes in their neighbourhood.
Residents were encouraged to take the snaps as part of a £1.3m ecological scheme for three housing estates in the borough – including the Queen Caroline – delivered by Hammersmith & Fulham Council and local environmental charity Groundwork London.
The two-year project saw a number of affordable climate change measures installed on estates, including new landscaping and shrubbery, water-permeable paving, grassy basins, green roofs and flood-proof rain gardens.
And Queen Caroline residents were encouraged to photograph the new ‘green’ measures during a special event run by H&F Council in July.
The pictures were then displayed in an exhibition on the estate in August and residents were invited to vote for their favourite photographs across the three categories of ‘people’, ‘places’ and ‘environment’.
Keen photographer Ayesha Khan was named adult winner in the ‘places’ category, while 16-year-old estate resident Tarif Bayliss won a young person’s prize in the same category.
Shirley Cupit, chair of Queen Caroline Estate’s Tenants and Residents Association, bagged the adult prize in the ‘people’ category, alongside nine-year-old Gabriel who scored the young person’s prize. Meanwhile, the ‘environment’ category was won by residents Mahroof Anwar and Lynden Campbell.
Commenting on her prize in the ‘places’ category, Ayesha said: “I thoroughly enjoyed the photo competition. It has never been done before on our estate and it was an opportunity to get in touch with our creative side, while also encouraging us to notice and appreciate the positive changes that have recently been made.
“The project made me realise just how much difference greenery makes in the overall appearance of our estate, as well as the positive impact on the environment. It has also shown me that we can all contribute towards these small changes to help make our local area a cleaner, safer and more beautiful community to live in.”
Cllr Wesley Harcourt, H&F Cabinet Member for Environment, Transport and Residents’ Services, said: “We are committed to improving the environment around our housing estates – as well as to be the greenest borough in London.
“And that means being forward-thinking when it comes to climate change and meeting future environmental challenges. The photo competition was a great way to inspire local residents to embrace these improvements.”
The other two estates involved in the climate change project, which also ran smaller versions of the photography competition, were Cheesemans Terrace in West Kensington and Richard Knight, Cyril Thatcher and Eric Macdonald houses in Fulham.
The project received European Union funding through the LIFE+ programme which supports projects aimed at improving the environment.
The photographs from the competition will remain on display indefinitely in the Queen Caroline Community Centre.
