Help us preserve the peace and beauty of our parks and enjoy exclusive member benefits.
News
Events
-
Free soft serve ice cream
1 August to 6 September 2026 -
Summer Concerts: Kensington Gardens & Hyde Park Bandstands
Sundays 2.30 - 4.30pm: June 14th, 9th August, 16th August, 6th September
News archive
News
Newsletters include the latest news and items from the Friends relating to Hyde Park and Kensington Gardens, which may be of interest to Members. The Annual Review provides further news on developments within the Parks and Friends events.
-
Boy – has the weather changed, from “wear as many clothes as you can” to “do I really need this jumper” in the course of the last two weeks. The plants and trees must be in such a muddle. Still long may it continue to bring us the joys of spring.
-
A conservation project to protect and increase biodiversity across 5,000 acres of London parkland has received a £750k boost, thanks to players of People’s Postcode Lottery. The new award enables The Royal Parks’ Mission: Invertebrate project to continue for a fifth year, protecting and promoting wildlife in London’s green spaces at a crucial time for climate and biodiversity.
It had been a long, long week. The day job, now a computer in the spare room was busy and demanding. I was “zoomed” out. The news was just depressing — more people infected, tragically more deaths, disputes over whose vaccine it was and who got what, when and where — having had a glass of red too many on Friday night I needed a reboot. Lockdown 63, week 4,786 and counting was getting us all down!
A Natural Winter Wonderland for Kensington Gardens and Hyde Park
For the first time in many years, sadly no ‘Winter Wonderland’ in Hyde Park. However, we were blessed with a ‘Natural Winter Wonderland’ on the morning of Sunday 24th January with families having such fun in the snow. The brief snowfall turned our parks into an open air gallery of some amazing snowmen and women, clearly lots of creativity around.
“Ring out, wild bells,….. Ring out the old, ring in the new,….”
from ‘In Memorium’ by Alfred Lord Tennyson
And so we creep into 2021 and still there’s uncertainty and anxiety. I hope that, having survived the oddest Christmas and New Year, offers of the Vaccine will be rolling towards you any day soon.
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.
