Tower Gardens Park, in White Hart Lane, has a building that was put up in the 90s for the children of the neighbourhood. Some of you will remember it from summer play schemes and after-school clubs. Most recently it was IntoUniversity's north London centre, but last month it fell empty.

Rather than leave it vacant, Haringey Council has granted us a one-year lease. We're Tower Gardens Community Corner CIC, a not-for-profit run by local residents. We said yes because we love the park, because neighbours keep telling us we need somewhere to come together, and because the chance was right in front of us.

The building's a bit tired, so we've been in most afternoons and weekends — with help from everyone — cleaning, fixing doors, painting walls and generally sorting it out.

Every pound raised goes into the building and into running activities. None of us takes a penny. This crowdfunder is what gets us up and running, covering some maintenance and essentials like tables and chairs, and gives us enough to pay bills and kick-start activities while we apply for grants to keep them going.

Here's what we'd love the space to hold: craft sessions, repair cafés, board games and book clubs, coffee mornings, story time for little ones, clothes and toy swaps, support groups, something for teenagers, a community exhibition space, a warm room in winter for anyone who wants one, and more.

It'll also be a base for looking after the park. There's been no climbing frame for the older children, and no swings, for far too long. The Council has money set aside for a new play area, and we'd like to work with the Friends of the park — and with you — to see it spent well, and soon!

The space will be available to hire too: meetings, classes, workshops, small parties, birthdays. Community groups pay a reduced rate; private hires pay a bit more and help subsidise everyone else. A few enquiries have already come in, and the hire form is live on our website. We'll keep looking for ways to make sure cost never shuts anyone out.

If you gave to our last crowdfunder, that was for 100 Tower Gardens Road — and that project is very much alive: our proposal for a long lease with an option to buy is with the Council, waiting on Cabinet. The pavilion came up unexpectedly while we wait, and we took it because the neighbourhood needed somewhere now — and because running one building well is also how you show you can be trusted with a bigger one. Longer term, we'd love to see the pavilion handed on to a group that loves the park as much as we do. Maybe alongside us.

If you're local, come and find us. We need people to help run a workshop, hold a paintbrush, mind a door, make tea, fix a hinge, or just tell us what you'd use the place for. And if you can't do either, please share this. There’s lots more people that still don’t know about this project, and that we’d love to talk to!

Thank you — this only works if enough of us want it to.

More about the space, what's on, and how to hire it on our website.