A COMMUNITY group will use a £10,000 grant to celebrate the life and work of Archbishop Desmond Tutu.

Following the funding boost from the National Lottery, the Grove Park Community Group will create a peace garden dedicated to the South African archbishop who lived in Grove Park in the 1970s.

The Tutu Peace Garden will be built in Chinbrook Meadows Park, Chinbrook Road, in time for the Nobel Peace Prize winner’s return to the area in July.

Lewisham Mayor Sir Steve Bullock will welcome Archbishop Tutu to the park in a 90-minute ceremony during which schoolchildren will read messages of peace and perform traditional African songs.

Tutu Peace Project coordinator Suzannah Clarke said: “The whole community is delighted.

“We now have the great pleasure of welcoming back the highly respected Archbishop Desmond Tutu to open the Tutu Peace Garden, which will provide a wonderful facility for schoolchildren and residents from every background.”