Venture

The photos below are of the Notting Hill Adventure Playground circa 1960s to the present day. It is now known as the Venture Community Association, but known locally as Venture. The photos are courtsey of RBKC Local Studies and Archives.

Here is an excerpt from Ventures website on the history of the playground:

"The Notting Hill Adventure Playground was originally an old church that was bombed in World War II. Children took over the space and created various structures and swings out of debris and various materials left behind in the wreckage. The playground grew from there and ten years later the community centre was built to complement the playground. The Notting Hill Adventure Playground is the oldest of its kind in the country serving the community since the late 1950s."

Venture is also home to one of the first pan yards to be built in the country. This is where The Glissando Steel Orchestra are based. They give free steel pan classes and are an integral part of the Notting Hill Carnival. For more information visit the Venture website.

You can't afford to buy your own property around here, but you kind of feel like you own the community centre, and that's your place, that's your property. That's your castle ... I think that's what it means to people, it brings them together.”

Jessica McMillan
Former Venture Center Staff Worker

Photo depicts the Notting Hill Adventure Playground from Wornington Road on the south side. On this corner side the playground has a wooden fence with a big sign saying playground attached to the chain link fence atop. In front, on the pavement, is a man painting a mural onto the fence with two young children watching on. Behind in the playground you can see a big higgledy piggledy wooden structure with a boy climbing up one side. To the left on the street and further behind are residential houses.

Photo depicts the Notting Hill Adventure Playground circa 1950s. Children playing, a young boy in the foreground is swinging on a rope swing, in the background is a higgledy piggledy wooden structure with two boys climbing on it. Behind is a chain link fence and then behind that a row of residential houses with shops on the ground level, one is a shoe repairer and a passing bus.

Photo depicts a corner of the Notting Hill Adventure Playground circa 1950s. In the foreground a young boy is mid flight after jumping off the roof of a hut whilst holding an open umbrella above his head. Another boy watches on from the roof and another boy is standing on the ground next to the hut. In the background is a chain link fence behind which is the side of a residential house and a streetlight in front.

Photo depicts the Notting Hill Adventure Playground circa 1950s. In the fore-ground there is a young boy standing on a higgledy piggledy wooden structure, his arms are stretched up holding onto a wooden beam above. In the background there are three children atop another wooden structure, a bit like an old wardrobe, with a forth child on a pair of stilts in front of it. Behind is a chain link fence and a row of residential houses.

Photo depicts a group of five boys playing with a huge map of England that is leaning against a wall. One boy is sliding down the map while two sit at the top, to the right, watching him. Two other boys have turned to face the camera. Photo courtesy of RBKC Local Studies and Archive, circa 1960s.

Photo depicts two girls in the Venture playground, one is looking at her bandaged hand and the other is lost in thought. In the background a small boy dances with a wheelbarrow in front of a group of teenagers. Photo courtesy of RBKC Local Studies and Archive, circa 1960s.

Photo depicts four young people playing steel pans. In the foreground a girl wearing a school tie is smiling as she plays. Photo courtesy of RBKC Local Studies and Archive, circa 1980s.

Photo depicts five children dressed in school uniform posing like singers and dancers inside a circular wooden play structure. One of the children holds the ropes of two rubber tyres. In the background is the colourfully painted wall of the younger children’s playground. Photo by Kevin Percival, 2018.

Photo depicts twelve children on the stage of Venture’s main hall. They are from Renegade Theatre’s Drama Club acting in their Christmas play called Cinderella’s Wornington Wish. The child playing Cinderella sits inside a golden box and the other children cluster around her. Shiny purple and brown fabric hangs in the background and silk leaves are scattered at the front of the stage. Photo by Talibah Stevenson, 2019.

Photo captures three members of Venture Centre staff who are in mid-flight after jumping from a wall outside the Centre. The women are laughing and holding fruit and vegetables in their hands to promote healthy eating. From left to right: Michelle Poponne, Naami Padi and Jessica McMillian. Photo reproduced from @VentureCentre1 Twitter feed, 2016.

Photo depicts group of five children from the Venture Centre who are taking part in the Notting Hill Carnival on Portobello Road. Several are in green and yellow costume. One girl is wearing a white dress. The smiling girl in the foreground has a flamed head dress with a yellow t-shirt advertising Kensington and Chelsea Schools and Venture Community Association. Photo reproduced from @VentureCentre1 Twitter feed, 2016.

Photo of Esther Mangoung who is the teacher of the Sewing Club at the Venture Centre. She is standing in the foreground wearing a colourful black and red floral dress. In the background are four women working at sewing machines and cutting fabric. On the wall is a large African mosaic art work. Photo by Kevin Percival, 2018.

Photo depicts the launch party of the Wornington Word Oral History Project in the main hall at the Venture Centre. In the background are the Glissando Band playing steel drums. In front of them are a young man and woman dancing cheek to cheek. To the left, a group of people stand around a drinks table. In the fore-ground are people eating and chatting around trestle tables. Photo by Kevin Percival, 2018.

Photo depicts the Venture Centre playground at the bottom of the frame with wooden climbing frames and slide. To the rear of the playground is a food bank during the Coronavirus lockdown with residents collecting food from tables set out on a green games pitch. The sign on the wall of the pitch says: You Are Here. Behind the Venture Centre is the apartment block on Faraday Road and to the left on Wornington Road is Bond Mansions. Trellick Tower and central London skyline can be seen in the distance.

This historical photo is of the original Venture playground. On the left is a boy with a tyre looped on his shoulder standing next to two little boys sitting on the back of a long wooden bench, next to them is a young child in a winter coat and scarf - there is a bonfire infront of them. The background shows other children playing.