January

Janus’s month, like the Roman god, looks both ways. Back to the old year and a chance to review and process some of the things which happened, and forwards to the new year perhaps with some resolutions?

The parks have looked strikingly different from one day to the next during the month so far. Our headline shot of an early (8am) grey view across the Serpentine shows mist rising from water full of broken ice, to slightly warmer air above. Below you’ll see the same walk, on another day, to work with a low sun through the trees emphasising the frosty grass.

Throughout this Newsletter, there’s a great selection of frosted seed heads and foliage all from Hyde Park. The next newsletter I expect to be full of the earliest Spring flowers.

Policing the Parks – Keeping us Safe

You may have heard or read that there are reductions in police funding in the pipeline. We have now been told that funding for our Royal Parks Police is planned to be cut completely from April 1st.

We rely very much on our 81-strong Royal Parks Police force (across all the Parks). A branch of the Met, they know their patch very well and are the only people who can enforce park regulations, impose fines and make arrests for offending behaviour. Our dedicated officers work hard to keep these parks safe.

Our Parks Police give reassurance to visitors from the UK as well as from all round the world and for us, the lucky ones, who mostly live within reach for frequent visits. On a daily basis the police deal with cyclists, dogs, rough sleepers (who have occasionally in the past taken over shrubby areas) littering, thefts, Speakers Corner challenges, antisocial behaviour and a myriad of other things which crop up daily.

Their presence is crucial.

Lobbying is all we can do at the moment and on behalf of you all, we are working closely with the Royal Parks Directors. I have sent a letter, on behalf of all the Royal Parks Friends’ group Chairs, to Sir Mark Rowley and Sir Sadiq Khan amongst others. We are now contacting our MP’s, Councillors and Assembly members, as are all the other Royal Parks contacting theirs. Approx 80% of our police funding comes from central government and 18% from the London Mayor.

Talks, meetings, and all lines of communication are open between our Directors and the Met. There are dozens of questions as there is so little detail before us, this decision seems to have been reached very quickly.

It might help if you too could contact your local Councillors and MP’s. And, of course, we’ll keep you all informed and updated.

Our MPs are:
rachel.blake.mp@parliament.uk
Rachel Blake for Cities of London and Westminster joe.powell.mp@parliament.uk
Joe Powell for Kensington and Bayswater

The Old Police House Gets a New Look

Planting at the head office of all the Royal Parks has changed drastically recently. Matthew Pottage, who arrived a few months ago from RHS Wisley and is also a regular on BBC Radio 4 Gardeners Question Time, is now Head of Horticulture and Landscape Strategy. He has recently replanted, together with head gardener, Beth Handley, the front of The Old Police House in Hyde Park.

Massive sculptural pots, and an array of plants resistant to the privations of global warming, now front the impressive building. It’s well worth taking a detour, via that spot, and I think you’ll be surprised.

Winter Wonderland Goes Home

Winter Wonderland has now left, gradually the fencing panels are coming down and Talbots are moving on to the site to start the fabulous job they do of reinstating the ground. While this work is being done, a huge old power cable which crosses the Parade Ground, is going to be replaced. It is damaged and is almost the last working cable to supply power to the West End. The new cable will be sunk into a conduit and this really essential work may mean there might be a delay in reopening some of the footpaths which cross the area.

So, marathon trainees will have to modify their routes a little longer and we are all looking forward to our lovely green sward reappearing in time for Easter.

Congratulations

to Royal Parks Chairman Loyd Grossman who, in the King’s New Year’s Honours List, was knighted for services to Heritage. We have emailed Sir Loyd with our very best wishes and thanks from us all for everything he continues to do for ‘The Friends’. It’s a very well-deserved award.

Kenneth Stern RIP Chairman, Friends Hyde Park and Kensington Gardens 2000-2005

I’m very sorry to report that our past chairman, Kenneth Stern, passed away on 16th December 2024.

Kenneth was a great supporter of these two Royal Parks and shamed me with his ability to get letters about them published regularly in the Times. He wrote to us just before Christmas 2023:

“As I prepare to celebrate my 96th Christmas, I send greetings and good wishes to….all trustees and members. Well done in keeping the society flourishing”.

His daughter, Melanie Fletcher, wrote that he had been getting progressively more frail and was unable to take part in the many and varied events which he so relished.

His funeral is on 23rd January at St John’s Church, Hyde Park Crescent and it is expected that there will be a large number of his old friends and neighbours there, as well as current Trustees to represent the Friends.

We’re sorry… (1)

that our accredited Photographer, Paul Shelley, had an accident in late October in South Africa and badly damaged both his shoulders. After operations, he is making a slow and complicated recovery but may still have more surgery to face.

It’s about now that he gets cracking on new photos to go with everything we produce for you. Unfortunately, he cannot hold a camera or press a shutter button. Everybody has got used to him wandering round as a regular visitor, taking some wonderful photos at our events and in the Parks. His output shows that his favourite subject is people, and he makes the best of all of us. We wish him as speedy a recovery as possible. We miss him.

Longer days to look forward to and resolutions maintained!

We’re sorry… (2)

that so many of you were disappointed you weren’t able to book for our Winter Wonderland pre-Christmas visit. The event was fully booked in a couple of hours. All, except one who was a guest, were members and nearly all were new visitors. The Trustees spent too long at our last meeting trying to work out a simple way of improving the booking system for this one event, and when we started to think about a Taylor Swift concert model, we realised we were beginning to lose the plot.

We’re sorry… (3)

that those of our members who live abroad (the furthest is New Zealand, I think) will not have seen our Annual Review, which came out as a paper copy to the rest of you in late October. Trustee, Lynden Easton, sends out a special emailed copy of the review and it’s set slightly differently by our wonderful printer, Adrian Barnes. He works with Lynden producing it. Very sadly for Adrian, on a Friday at the end of November he was emailed, pre-dawn, to inform him the owners had closed the whole group of businesses. None of the payroll were being paid the previous month’s salary.

Can You Help?

Our volunteers ran the information Kiosk in Hyde Park last summer, on weekdays, as a temporary trial for a short period. It was so successful that at times they were rushed off their feet and the trial was extended into October. Reopening in the spring is already being planned, with Easter a possibility. They are very keen to get more volunteers to join the rota, and we would be happy to answer questions and talk about what’s needed.

Our trustees, Will Gray and Patricia Ladkin, are looking forward to talking to any of you who are interested.

Please email contact@friendshpkg.org.uk. and they will be in touch.

Janus Looks Forward

Dates for your diaries:

Nursery Tour: Tuesday 13th May 6pm

Plant Sale: Tuesday 1st July 10am to 3pm

AGM: Wednesday 2nd July 6pm The Hyde Park Learning Centre at The Look Out .

Further details and booking for the tour will follow.

In the meantime Nursery Manager Rob Dowling, who’s preferred subject is plants, trees, skies and views, is filling the gap and this is how we’ve come to have such a lovely collection in this Newsletter. Thank you to him and please don’t trip up.

Sue Price
Chairman
Photography
Rob Dowling

Design and layout
Lynden Easton