Creating a blue zone at Meyrick Bennett

Bev Campbell and Frodo, Meyrick park

With one of the oldest entrance gates in the country, a stately house that awaits a new fate and trees that will soon wear name tags, the Meyrick Bennett Park is loved and cared for by champion Bev Campbell and park regulars

If you wander through Meyrick Bennett Park next to St Augustine’s Hospital early evening on a Friday, you will see 20 Glenwoodians and their dogs take ownership of the park with a weekly meet-up. This fun and lively event has become as much a treat as enjoying the dappled shade provided by the park’s majestic trees.

 The entrance to Meyrick Bennett is via its imposing stone walls, one of the oldest in South Africa, built in 1890 and granting access to an impressive driveway to the stately house at the top of the hill, around it and back down to exit again.

The house and the land once belonged to the Randles family, a family of jewellers and landowners who bequeathed the property to the city for use as a facility  for children. Now empty, there is talk of its next incarnation. While that plan germinates, the Glenwood community, gently led by Park Champion Bev Campbell, have worked on making the park safer, cleaner and loved.

Bev, who has lived in Glenwood for 21 years, is always at the park, painting, sprucing, planting, watering and making plans with other volunteers, always with Frodo, her retriever cross, at her side.

“The park is close to my heart, not just as a green space but as part of my childhood. Back in the ‘70s, I caught the Special 98 bus home from Durban Girls’ College. It stopped at the park entrance.”

Bev’s husband Craig is passionate about trees and had tags with QR codes made for all the trees. There are plans to put in a walking path to wind through the park with information boards to learn about the flora, birdlife and history of the house

Many bird species have been spotted including the breeding pair of black Sparrowhawks that have hatched and the spotted eagle owl. 

 Bev’s dream is that Glenwood becomes a model suburb - safe, clean, inclusive and connected. “I’d love to see well-used public spaces, thriving local businesses and a commitment to sustainability.” She is living her dream of leaving behind a legacy of active citizenship.

She believes Meyrick Bennett Park and Glenwood can be a “Blue Zone” - a region where people live longer and healthier lives than the global average.