Both parks have looked amazingly beautiful this spring. Tulips, especially, had the Wow! factor. Perhaps it was the incessant teeming rain in the late autumn and early winter (very bad luck for Winter Wonderland) followed by strong sun, meant we had memorable displays.

Blossom round the Albert Memorial, and in the recently planted area in memory of Theresa Short, rivalled Japan’s blossom season. Little ceremonies took place under trees with proud families gathering for photographs, with wonderful costumes and frocks on display. With my useless camera I could only smile and congratulate. Luckily, our “proper” photographers were busy.

Lucky Top Hat Draw in Action Again!

Many members will be acquainted with this lucky draw in the British Summer Time concert season. Thanks to the generosity of the Royal Parks, there are even more tickets for you to win.

We have been offered the following:

Saturday 28th June: Zach Bryan x 1pair
Saturday 5th July: Sabrina Carpenter x 1pair
Friday 11th July: Neil Young x 1pair
Saturday 12th July: Stevie Wonder x 1pair

Mid-week Open House events
Tuesday 8th July: Darts Championship x 3pairs
Thursday 10th July: All Things Orchestral x 3pairs

Send your (up to) two choices BY 6pm – Wednesday 25th to Kathy Spanos email: events@friendshpkg.org.uk

She will stage a draw out of her top hat which comes out annually. She will then forward the email addresses of the winners to the Hyde Park team and notify you if you are one of the lucky ones.

We are, as always, immensely grateful to the events teams of the Royal Parks for being so generous.

Good luck!
Sue

Hold the dates

Tuesday 1st July 10am to 3pm: Friends Hyde Park and Kensington Gardens Plant Sale
The Hyde Park Nursery

Our very popular opportunity to buy beautiful plants at bargain prices from a huge selection of surplus top-quality plants, grown for all the central London Royal Parks and Buckingham Palace.

Payment by card only All proceeds to the Royal Parks Charity.

Plenty of help transporting large quantities of plants by trolley to the Triangle Car Park nearby.

Wednesday 2nd July 6pm: AGM Friends of Hyde Park and Kensington Gardens
The Hyde Park Learning Centre (formerly ‘The LookOut’)
Members only (and previously invited guests)

Tuesday 29th July 6pm to 7.30/8pm: Out and about in Hyde Park with Matthew Pottage Starting in the ‘LookOut’
A very special evening, finishing with drinks in the Dell (weather permitting).

Booking via Eventbrite in a short while. This will be for limited numbers only so look out for the booking alert giving you more details.

Bands are back! Thanks to our wonderful sponsors, the following dates are in the diary The Hyde Park Bandstand

Sunday August 17th 2.30pm to 4.30 pm: The Band of the Mercian Regiment

Sunday 31st August 2.30 to 4.30pm: Orquesta Mambarito

Sunday 7th September 2pm to 4.30 pm (note different time): South London Jazz Orchestra (SLJO) and dance teacher

Kensington Gardens

Sunday 14th September 2.30 pm to 4.30 pm: Epsom and Ewell Silver Band.

More about these wonderful bands and our generous sponsors in our next newsletter, but don’t forget to note the dates.

Dimity at the Round Pond

This has been a bumper spring for birdwatchers at the Round Pond. The first brood of Egyptian Geese, 8 of the original 9, has made it to late teenage, all they need now are the red legs of adulthood. The most recent brood was a pair and sadly is now a singleton. Was the heron spotted on the side of the Pond at the weekend the culprit? Enchantingly, the Mandarin ducks have produced a family. 12 down to 10 at the time of writing, still tiny but so active and independent, whizzing around the water. A pair of Great Crested Grebes made a brief appearance, but the Pond is too open water for such shy birds.

A sadness is the scarcity of any representative of the Hirundinidae family. The screams and acrobatics of the swallows and their cousins were in short supply last year and so far this year is no better.

Dimity Spiller
May 2025

You were there!

May in the Nursery
Manager Rob Dowling hosted a great evening. The glasshouses were packed with plants ready to go out to all the parks and Buckingham Palace, the evening was light and sunny and it was warm. We had everything, even a bit of tutored scratch and sniff (pelargonium leaves) “no, Coca Cola doesn’t come through” “sherbet lemon’s so strong”.

With going home presents, and after Pimms and canapés we had had a lovely evening. Rob, as a thanks, was presented with a bouquet (of asparagus!).

Brompton Cemetery
In June, Manager Emma with Head Gardener Chris and Funerary Manager Matt, took us round and with the added interest of the catacombs we all had a really interesting and enjoyable afternoon.

We sat down to tea together afterwards, and there were plenty of quite cheerful conversations about possibilities and preferences for our own last arrangements. This is an amazing place which we are hoping to revisit soon and perhaps focus on monuments and their surrounding planting.

The Pavilions at The Serpentine Gallery

A 9am visit to the recently unveiled Serpentine Summer Pavilion, plus the little children’s Lego Pavilion with curator Chris Bayley, was attended by a large crowd.

This shows that everybody can turn out bright eyed in the morning and on time when there’s something interesting on offer.

s we left just before 10am, there was a queue of little children and their carers waiting to get in. Gallery supporters of the future! Wonderful.

Sitting comfortably

A recent suggestion by the development team to our members, that some commemoration benches were being offered for sponsorship, was quickly taken up.

One member, Helen Perkes, wanted her bench to enjoy in her lifetime. Her story is one of over 50 years of enjoying the parks. Her inscription says: “Wonderful memories of the trees, plants and wildlife within these parks. Constant companions throughout the seasons….”.

She has celebrated on or at her bench, which is very close to her home in the north of the park, with friends on many occasions. Plenty of passers-by have been intrigued by her story.

And now we turn a quarter circle Everything’s coming up rosy as we move into full summer, and in mid-June the gardening teams are planting beds as fast as they can. Roses (in the rose garden close to Hyde Park Corner) are looking luscious. As their bushy pink flowers die back, the herbaceous planting takes over. It’s a lovely space with masses of quiet sitting areas, Diana the Huntress Fountain sparkling in one. The lozenge (or paisley pattern) shaped beds close by are being planted now so it’ll be interesting to see what the colour schemes are this year. Remember for two years, beds with black and white plants?

Wildflowers are perfect now. along the long wall between the Old Police House and the works yard, and beyond. This was a shrub border which had got overgrown.

The exotic planting at the Old Police House is settling in well, with some stunning little gems to spot.

At the Italian Gardens in Kensington Gardens, Head Gardener Russell Stevens has been working on a difficult, very steep, very hot south-facing bed in front of the cafe. It has become a Mediterranean Garden and, at last has succeeded in its battle with frolicking dogs, it looks suitably Provençal.

His large recently redesigned and replanted garden at the Albert Memorial, is now looking good.

I do hope you are all able to get out and about in cooler moments and enjoy it all.

Sue
June 22nd 2025

Sue Price
Chairman
Friends of Hyde Park & Kensington Gardens

Email: contact@friendshpkg.org.uk
Website: www.friendshpkg.org.uk

Photography thanks to:
Paul Shelley
Rob Dowling
Carl Richardson
Lynden Easton

Design and Setting by Lynden Easton