February slides into March.

Christina Rossetti said it…
‘But for fattening rain
We should have no flowers.
Never a bud or leaf again
But for soaking showers.’

And there’s plenty of flowering rewards to enjoy now in both parks.

Police…an update

Thank you all for contacting your Councillors and MPs about the possibility of our parks losing their dedicated police force. As part of a group of ‘Royal Parks Friends’ we also lobbied widely.

Chief Executive Andrew Scattergood has updated us:
Initially, we were told that the parks OCU (Royal Parks Occupational Command Unit) was to close at the beginning of April. However this seems to have been delayed, there is no final MPS (Metropolitan Police Service) decision, and it is tied in with other MPS cuts.

We expect it to take place in a phased way so that staff can be relocated elsewhere in the MPS service.

The effect of this is that officers are managing their own careers are leaving and the outer parks in particular are now understaffed. Our two parks are OK for now (with a temporary officer helping out) but it won’t be too long before the outer parks have to fully close their services.

We have a list of concerns which are particular to Kensington Gardens, and especially Hyde Park. These include Changing Guard duties, Speakers Corner and World Cannabis Day.

Of course, we will keep you updated and our directors have requested more information on several occasions which we will pass on whenever there is anything useful.

Girls and Boys come out to play

Our wonderful Princess Diana Memorial playground in Kensington Gardens has served a generation for 25 years and is visited annually by over a million appreciative children and their carers. As it no longer springs back after the annual patching up, the time has come for more than a refurb. Generous funding has been confirmed, and all preparations are in place for a rebuild over the winter between late October 2025 and Easter 2026.

The new playground will be designed for all children to have access and will be more exciting and challenging.

The story behind the project is rather lovely. After extensive tendering from companies all round the world, the bidding was won by the same company in Bavaria which designed the first playground. Even more happily, is that a craftsman who worked on the first pirates’ galleon is still there and will be creating the next one for us (with two basket look-outs).

The whole thing will be created in Bavaria and brought over in parts to be reassembled by its team on site over a few days. Our group which visited were delighted to see, on the display boards in Germany, lots of cuttings and illustrations of “ours” which apparently was a game-changer at the time and inspired similar playgrounds in the USA and Middle East.

Ryan Gill, the very capable and talented playground manager, showed me the fascinating plans. As soon as we can get into the new one in 2026, I’ve asked him if our members can have an early morning visit before it opens to have a try out.

Our ancient friend

The Wollemia Pine is an example of a species of tree, described as a living fossil, and some of the living specimens today are between 500 and 1,000 years old.

Ours was planted in the Dell, a gift from the Friends (FHPKG) in a formal planting ceremony by Philip Joseph in recognition of his founding and chairmanship of the organisation.

Mostly, they grow to an enormous height (at Kew they thrive) but ours hasn’t put on much growth at all although its foliage looks quite good. Matthew Pottage is concerned about its lack of growth and has let us know that he is going to focus on giving it a bit of TLC to see if that encourages it to burst into action.

There were two of these in the South Flower Walk, one on each side of the path, planted later and not funded by us. I believe they were part of Chelsea Flower Show one year. One didn’t survive and has been removed. The other is alive but not looking terrific.

Matthew is in touch, and we will update you but do look for it at the Dell.

Ready to go

The volunteers’ kiosk (or hut as we often call it) has reappeared on the Serpentine Road after its sheltered winter break, rather sooner than we were expecting. It is looking very smart and will open for business on April 22nd. Thank you to all the members who responded to the request for helpers to staff it and have stepped forward. The “old” brigade has been meeting regularly over the winter months, to enjoy coffee and pastries thanks to Benugo’s generosity and kept in touch with each other.

Thanks to Patricia Ladkin for thinking of this and setting it all up. So, we have a strong team and Assistant Manager Jo Grant has been working very hard at digging everything out of storage to make sure it’s manageable, works well for all heights, and looks good from all angles.

Our next challenge is to get some kind of uniform (maybe a sweat-shirt or fleece, or at least a lanyard) and then we really will look “teamy” and our photographer can get snapping again.

Glorious flowers and an early visitor

I wasn’t too sure about the large photo in Saturday’s Times, of a young woman in Hyde Park reclining in the middle of a sunny grassy-planted area full of daffodils.

What’s wrong with me? All I could think was the photo must have left a body-shaped squashed imprint in the middle of a swathe of flowers and a second one, too, of the photographer.

Ignore this seasonal moan and enjoy it all.

There’s a tidal wave of blossom all round us.

And while you are out and about, the naturalising cyclamen in the fenced-off areas by Speakers Corner, have taken off this year in a spread of pinks and white under the massive London plane trees. 

These are there thanks to you! Paid for by a ‘Friends’ donation about ten years ago they stayed very quiet for years but are now really a treat.

An unexpected March visitor, a Comma butterfly, flew in and rested on sunny, west-facing stonework in Hyde Park.

Puzzled??

This is the first of an occasional series of “where are you standing?” photos from either park. No prizes but answer will appear next time.

We are indebted to our two main photographers:

Paul Shelley, who has recovered from his awful accident enough to manage a very small camera, especially if he has me as his bag-carrier and battery/lens-changer.

Our other camera man, Rob Dowling, produces fabulous shots with his phone and is first to send some spectacular plant and tree pictures, and has access to behind-the-scenes which is helpful

Sue Price
Chairman
14th March 2025

Photography
Paul Shelley
Rob Dowling
Additional photos from Bambina Carnwath and Sue Price
Design and layout
Lynden Easton