News

We breasted the tape of the Vernal Equinox last week, we adjusted our clocks as Spring sprung and we’ve tried to ignore the bucketing rain.

Hard frosts turned Buck Hill into a deepest country landscape, and the clear, sunny half term days which followed filled the parks with children and their families getting to know London. Days are clearly stretching out and we know we’ve turned the page on winter.

As promised, we are sending more bits of news and some colour to cheer you up.

Hard frost has returned with a vengeance, and with it some low sun. I suppose it’s too late now for me to plant those spring bulbs languishing in a paper bag?

We’ve made it into the dark period after Christmas and New Year celebrations and it seems a long haul to Easter. But at least the shortest day is well behind us and the burst of snow and cold in December made a stunning change from dark rainy days.

Established in 1997 and with over 140 images from which to choose, Mountbatten Cards enables customers to donate 25% of the net proceeds of their purchase to the charity of their choice.

The Royal Parks have just released this two minute beautifully made Youtube film. Flowers brought in remembrance of Her Majesty are carefully laid out in the Green and Hyde Parks and make gorgeous displays, and then they have to be cleared…….

The death of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II has brought back many memories for us all. Several of you got in touch with your own remembrances and thoughts on the last few weeks. Some of these contributions are enclosed in this newsletter.

As far as the Friends organisation went, we had little to do except stand back, support, admire and congratulate the Royal Parks staff on the way the long planned arrangements slipped into place and suddenly “our” parks became a focus for the world.

From Friday morning when a 96 gun salute took place, our two parks played a vital role. There were three more gun salutes during the following ten days, large screens erected, flowers laid and then ended with the solemn progress of the hearse through Hyde Park and then Kensington Gardens on its way to Windsor.