“Willows whiten, aspens quiver,
Little breezes dusk and shiver”
from The Lady of Shalott Alfred, Lord Tennyson.

A few days ago was special, March 1st was meteorological spring. This may be confusing because there are so many starts to spring until we get to the equinox and then, before we know it, we’ve hit the solstice.

What you can see with your eyes though, is the rapid daily change in the parks. Spring truly is bursting out all over, and we should get ready to catch the extensive blossom areas around North Flower Walk and close to the Albert Memorial in Kensington Gardens.

THE SERPENTINE BRIDGE (is no longer falling down)

Extensively damaged by a reckless driver late on Christmas Eve 2023, the east side of the bridge lost a lot of parapet and its structure too was compromised. It took a long time for specialist restorers to assess and quote. Then, even more time elapsed as so many parts had to be replaced using the correct stone for a proper restoration. These were created off site and can now be admired on both sides of the bridge’s parapet, where both worn and damaged parts are replaced.

Below the bridge, work is underway on the structure. On the east side of the bridge, the “cages” along the north margin of the lake contain plants which, it is hoped, will take root in the water and provide a softer more sheltering habitat for smaller fowl and fishes.

Worth a good long look at every level!

SPEND SPEND SPEND!

The Royal Parks shop, situated on the Serpentine Road in the boathouse building, is closing on April 1st.  Up until that date, there will be a clearance sale with many bargains to be had, with generous reductions and an extra 10% on production of your membership card.

I was able to buy plenty of things before Christmas, and I thought the items on display looked especially attractive in the last couple of seasons. I’ve now stocked up again so am set up for stocking fillers and competition prizes for a long time to come.

THE FLYING DUTCHMAN?

I wish I’d seen this sight with my own eyes.  A galleon, flying through the air, now resting properly in its final position in the new Princess Diana Memorial playground in Kensington Gardens.  Not, of course, a Dutchman but the end of a long journey from the mountains of Bavaria where both it and its predecessor were created.

Thanks to playgrounds manager Ryan Gill for his much welcome on-the-spot photos which he takes for us.

Our Elfin Oak is now swathed in scaffolding and protective covering, as it undergoes its major refresh.

In the playground, the hard work is underway to prepare an entire new landscape around all these fabulous installations, and rectify some long-standing problems with, for example, drainage in one area.

The opening date may be in about late June or even early July. I’m hoping that we will be able to organise an early morning visit for our members.

KEEPING TRACK

Our wonderful membership secretary, Lynden Easton, keeps a terrific record of our members, talks to many of you and also has chats with many of our very long-standing members, some of whom don’t have an email address.

She is so close to telling us that we have 1000 members! Every now and again, she thinks she’s reached the milestone but then realises that a few have moved away, and back we plummet by about half a dozen, it won’t be very long!

MISSING OUR POLICE (Subtitled reporting and keeping records)

Our managers are very anxious to keep track of offending behaviour of any kind in the parks, since we lost our police force.

Serious crime or an ongoing incident should still be a 999 call.

The system of reporting less serious crimes (101) is not easy nor very successful. In addition, statistics are not being fed back to the Managers from the various different local neighbourhood policing teams.

Rough sleeping in the parks isn’t being dealt with effectively.

Several members have been in touch. Various agencies have been involved and issued with keys to access Kensington Gardens when it is normally locked up, but so far there have been no satisfactory answers. Royal Parks staff have been working hard with these agencies.

It is not at all a happy situation, although there is such an effort going in to make contact with everyone concerned in these events, it is depressing. And looking forward to longer, lighter days and warmer weather doesn’t bring much comfort either. I have asked if we could have an easy way of reporting incidents directly to our parks staff so they can gather the statistics, it’s being looked at.

In the meantime, we are faced with four different neighbouring police panels involved in our two parks, policing all of which have quarterly meetings. We have historically always had a representative at our own single parks police panel, but managing four panels is a bit of a challenge for our trustees.

We will of course report to you all regularly.

I enjoy seeing so many of you out and about and receiving kind messages from you. I share these with our trustees, and they too feel much appreciated by you all.

Continue to enjoy the various stages of Spring’s arrival.

Sue
11/03/26

Photography
Paul Shelley
Rob Dowling
Ryan Gill
Sue Price

Design
Lynden Easton

Sue Price
Chairman
Friends of Hyde Park & Kensington Gardens
Old Police House, Hyde Park, London W2 2UH
www.friendshpkg.org.uk
contact@friendshpkg.org.uk