Archive news

When we’ve reached the time of year when darkness is considerably longer than daylight it’s hard, sometimes, to stay cheerful.

Even on a very cold, damp day though, we really enjoyed the newest treats to arrive in Hyde Park and Kensington Gardens. Sculptor Tom Harvey has created, thanks to Mission Invertebrate (funded by the People’s Post Code Lottery), sculptures using fallen or felled Park trees, to give us some wooden gems to search out and enjoy.

THE PARKS WERE ALIVE WITH THE SOUND OF MUSIC…
at least for a day in Hyde Park opera soared amongst the leafy glades.

The production of ‘Opera Scenes’ from our neighbouring Conservatoire, the Royal College of Music (RCM), would normally, be a keenly anticipated show to packed audiences in their own Britten Theatre.

This exotic name isn’t the title of a new Ben Macintyre book. Regular visitors to both Parks may well have seen this project in action.

At about mid-morning you may see a large horsebox rumbling along Policeman’s Path towards the Old Police House in Hyde Park. As it passes you may also notice, through its tiny windows, pairs of pricked up ears.

Giant Shire horses leisurely disembark and are ready for their days work. Roughly three times a year they visit each of the rough meadow areas at Buck Hill (Kensington Gardens) and in the north of Hyde Park.

As we plan for the future and the financial challenges we now face, we’re looking at how we can improve people’s experiences in The Parks even further. The Royal Parks are hoping to analyse the interests of longstanding visitors who have recently discovered The Royal Parks as a result of lockdown, to learn more about visitors’ interests, preferred methods of accessing information and behaviour in The Parks.

It is a great shame that we are unable to meet properly in person for our AGM this year. I hope it will not be too long before we are able to meet more informally at a Friends’ event, preferably one where we may have a glass in our hands and raise a toast to the resumption of our normal activities in support of our wonderful parks and their magnificent staff.

An important aspect of our wonderful Parks is to be able to sit and enjoy the borders, birds and wildlife, energy expanded by others etc. The Parks have recently focused on the benches in The Park to make that a more comfortable activity.

Both Kensington Gardens and Brompton Cemetery were awarded their respective Green Flag Award and Green Heritage Site Accreditation for 2020/21. These awards acknowledge well managed parks and green spaces all over the UK and around the world and set the benchmark standard for the management of recreational outdoor spaces.

For the first time in 169 years, visitors can take a 360 tour around The Crystal Palace, the venue of the formidable 1851 Great Exhibition held in Hyde Park – but this time without leaving your home

Since early April we’ve been sending out regular blogs via MailChimp with only a few short gaps during all these months.

This has been possible because we have a genius at work behind the scenes. Our membership secretary, Lynden Easton, has worked miracles using only her computer at home to send evermore ambitious postings.

HALLOWEEN, CHRISTMAS and MONTEVERDI …. read on