Please join our newly elected Community Council in the local clean up for May.
Meeting in the park at 10am on 28th May. Call 07776 683 760 for more information.
Please join our newly elected Community Council in the local clean up for May.
Meeting in the park at 10am on 28th May. Call 07776 683 760 for more information.
WAES and HCGA are holding a free, month long gardening course for beginners, covering a different topic each week.
Thursday 28th April 2022 at Queen’s Park Gardens 1:30pm to 3pm: Seed Sowing – How, When & Where.
Thursday 5th May 2022 at Queen’s Park Gardens 1:30pm to 3pm: Knowing your weeds, looking at common annual & perennial weeds (plant ID), different weeding techniques for each, use of edible and medicinal weeds.
Thursday 12th May 2022 at Queen’s Park Gardens 1:30pm to 3pm: Sustainable Gardening, composting (garden/leaf), making comfrey/nettle feed, growing for pollinators, using peat-free potting compost- what is it & why it’s essential.
Thursday 19th May 2022 at Queen’s Park Gardens 1:30pm to 3pm: Plant your Own Hanging basket.
Thursday 26th May 2022 – 10am to 2pm: Visit to Kew Gardens.
This gardening course is free, all you need to do is…
*Complete an enrolment form
*Show your ID at enrolment
*Be a resident of Westminster borough
*Attend every week
FOR INFO AND BOOKINGS please email: bookings@nullhcga.org.uk
Our lovely friends at HCGA planted a very special new rose bush last week. You can read more about the rose on the supplier’s website.
We were proud to receive and plant the new John Ystumllyn Rose in QPG Rose Garden. #W10 The rose was launched in honour of one of the first known Black gardeners in the UK. @harkness_roses @HCGAGardens @QPCouncil @FoQPGardens pic.twitter.com/rA2REA3LUF
— Ulla Johnson (@ullajohnsonLDN) March 29, 2022
John Ystumllyn was an 18th-century Welsh gardener and the first well-recorded black person of North Wales.
John was of uncertain origin but early in his life he was taken by the Wynn family to their estate in Criccieth, where he was christened with the Welsh name John Ystumllyn. He was taught English and Welsh by the locals. He learned his craft in the estate garden and began a romance with the local maid Margaret Gruffydd with whom he later eloped and married.
In recognition of his service Ellis Wynn gave Ystumllyn a large garden and cottage at Y-Nhyra Isa. He died in 1786 at around the age of 50; his wife survived him for more than forty years. Several years after his death, a small monument was constructed in his place of burial St Cynhaearn’s Church.
Over a hundred years after his death, the Welsh writer Robert Isaac Jones published an account of his life compiled from various local oral records. This work, while also criticised for its forgetfulness and racial stereotyping, is regarded as the most informative extant source of Ystumllyn’s life. According to Jones, he was “a very honest man, with no malice, and was respected by the gentry and the common people alike”.
(Source: Wiki)
It is lovely to see people enjoying our park.
Beautiful flowers in Queen’s Park Gardens, thanks to all the community gardeners 💜 @FoQPGardens @HCGAGardens pic.twitter.com/vUasT7LntN
— Cara (@Caraquest) March 11, 2022
Lovely to see the rewards of our planting. pic.twitter.com/87ZDaofNqm
— Friends of QPG (@FoQPGardens) March 11, 2022
We have begun our new schedule of regular, weekly Wildlife Area sessions on Saturdays.
Our next session is organised for Saturday, 19th March 2022, starting at 10 am and running through the morning until 1 pm. You are welcome to join us at any time within those hours, for as little or long as you like.
We meet in the Wildlife Area of Queen’s Park Gardens with all equipment provided – just wear sensible clothing and bring plenty of enthusiasm. You can turn up for as long or as short a time as you want. We will be working in the open air with social distancing and as always, weather permitting!
Our schedule of sessions for the rest of March, are as follows:
Saturday 26th March 2022
We look forward to seeing you soon.
If you would like to join our mailing list, please drop us a line via the Contact Form.
The weather was kind to us on Saturday.
Ray tidied the brambles before joining the rest of the team to turn the compost heap.
Our next session is organised for Saturday, 12th March 2022, starting at 10 am and running through the morning until 1 pm. You are welcome to join us at any time within those hours, for as little or long as you like.
We meet in the Wildlife Area of Queen’s Park Gardens with all equipment provided – just wear sensible clothing and bring plenty of enthusiasm. You can turn up for as long or as short a time as you want. We will be working in the open air with social distancing and as always, weather permitting!
Following on from this Saturday, our schedule of sessions for the rest of March, are as follows:
Saturday 12th March 2022
Saturday 19th March 2022
Saturday 26th March 2022
We look forward to seeing you soon.
If you would like to join our mailing list, please drop us a line via the Contact Form.
We held our AGM in February and it was well attended via Zoom.
We would like to thank everyone who joined us.
The annual report can be downloaded from here.
One of our volunteers spotted a fallen tree on Saturday morning along the secret trail at the back of the Wildlife Area. Perhaps it was a victim of storm Eunice. Luckily, the tree fell in such a way to only partially obscure the trail.
Raymond set to work cutting back a large section of ivy which had grown up at the top of the tree and overhung the trail.
After making sure the tree was secure and wouldn’t fall on the path, the Friends have decided to leave it where it is, to become a feast for smaller insects.
The insects have already been feasting. The surface of the tree is festooned with termite holes. The photo below is just a small section of the whole tree.
We are happy to announce we are back in our boots!
We begin our new schedule of regular, weekly Wildlife Area sessions this Saturday.
Our first session is organised for Saturday, 26th February 2022, starting at 10 am and running through the morning until 1 pm. You are welcome to join us at any time within those hours, for as little or long as you like.
We meet in the Wildlife Area of Queen’s Park Gardens with all equipment provided – just wear sensible clothing and bring plenty of enthusiasm. You can turn up for as long or as short a time as you want. We will be working in the open air with social distancing and as always, weather permitting!
Following on from this Saturday, our schedule of sessions for March, are as follows:
Saturday 5th March 2022
Saturday 12th March 2022
Saturday 19th March 2022
Saturday 26th March 2022
We look forward to seeing you soon.
If you would like to join our mailing list, please drop us a line via the Contact Form.
Our lovely HCGA has joined forces with RBKC to provide a 5 week course to learn the healing properties of herbs. This takes place in the Canalside Activity Centre by Sainsbury’s.
The first session is from 10am to noon on Wednesday (23rd Feb 2022) so get in touch with bookings@nullhcga.org.uk if you would like to join or need more information.
The eastern end of the dog run has been re-turfed and will be closed until it has rooted. Please access the other end of the run from the mid-Ilbert Street gate. Dogs must be kept on their leads in all other areas of the park. Thank you.
Our wonderful team of ad-hoc volunteers have spread wood chip around the muddier access points of the Wildlife Area. We’d like to thank Ulla and HCGA who sourced this for us.
Finally, we would like to thank everyone who attended our virtual AGM. The annual report will be available soon, and summarised in the year review.