COMMUNITY-minded folk have come together to a form a Friends group for one of Bradford’s best-known parks.

Lister Park, which has won several national awards including Britain’s Best Park, now has the Friends group, which hopes to encourage people to become more involved.

Their work is already getting underway, with the first meeting of the group being held tomorrow at the Cartwright Hall Café at 1pm.

Committee members will discuss the issues the park is facing and the goals they have in mind for the park, which was created in 1870.

One of the first tasks on the agenda is a clean-up of the park, gathering the fallen leaves and litter that has been left.

Sohail Ahmed, a committee member of the Friends of Lister Park group, said: “This is one of the best-known parks in Bradford and we have to keep its standards high.

“We’ve collated surveys from residents regarding what they want to gain from the park, and the response we’ve had, shows that locals are looking to get involved and want to help make the most of this green space.

“A number of issues were raised such as the rats in the park, the cleanliness of the pond and the biggest one being the lack of activities and events held in the park.

“We want to lay the groundwork so that when the weather gets better, we can get some activities on and get more people in the park.”

The Friends group hopes to make the park an asset for locals to use and enjoy.

Saima Khan, another committee member, told the Telegraph & Argus: “From my point of view as a mum of two, it’s nice that we’ve got some outdoor space, but there’s not much that takes place on this side of Bradford.

“It would be really good to get children out as much as possible so that they aren’t sat in front of the TV and computer for so long.

“I’m glad this has been set up because we can hopefully get more out of the park and make it worthwhile having it in our area.”

A weekly run is held at the park, alongside several other activities which are put on by local organisations to encourage residents to partake in exercise.

Mr Ahmed added: “This is our park and by getting the community involved we can restore it to what it used to be.”