To keep our members informed about latest news and events we update this website frequently.  News item headlines are listed in order of publication - most recent on top. Click the headline to see the full item.

Members also receive the Friends Newsletter, printed and sent out (or delivered - by Friends volunteers) 3 times a year. It presents the most relevant news items as well as details of forthcoming events. The front page of the most recent edition is on this website under Newsletter.

Greenwich Park community archaeology dig in partnership with English Heritage

The Royal Parks in partnership with English Heritage is hosting a community archaeology dig, from 6 – 10^th September 2010 in Greenwich Park. An excavation and survey of features will take place in an area considered to be the site of a former 17^th-century Keeper’s Cottage or Lodge. The site is located between the Cross and Lovers' Walk near Queen Elizabeth's Oak.

Professional archaeologists Graham and Cathy Keevill will lead the project, which will give volunteers hands-on experience of excavation and survey techniques. The work will record and map historic features of the site in relation to existing historical evidence. The site has been known for a long time, but the growth of nearby trees and resulting heavy shade and tree roots has led to gradual erosion, exposing a line of brick and broken roof tiles. The site will be protected with soil once the excavation is finished.

The Keeper’s Cottage or Lodge is recorded on many maps from around 1680 to the 1840s. These show several buildings set within rectangular or D-shaped enclosures. The Lodge was demolished in 1853. The various surveys show that it lay in the area of Queen Elizabeth’s Oak (actually a sweet chestnut tree).

Volunteer enquiries:

There are a number of opportunities to take part, including the excavation itself and short talks on-site. The latter include: ‘Recent archaeological projects in the area,’ Wednesday 8 September, 12 noon by Mark Stevenson, Archaeology Advisor, London Region, English Heritage; and ‘How science can be the archaeologist’s friend,’ Friday 10 September, 12 noon, by Jane Sidell, Inspector of Ancient Monuments, London Region, English Heritage.

Numbers will be limited to around 10 – 15 people each day, and places must be pre-booked. If you would like to participate in the dig, please contact Michael Loughnane on 0208858 2608 ext 24 or email: mloughnane@royalparks.gis.gov.uk or contact Graham Keevill on 07915 117 340 or email graham@keevillhc.freeserve.co.uk at Keevill Heritage Consultancy.

When you contact them please tell them which days you are available or would prefer to work. If you have no preference spaces will be allocated day by day on a first-come first-served basis.

Work will start at 11am on Monday 6^th September 2010, and at 10.30am each day thereafter. There will be a short introduction about the history of the site for new starters each day, and safety information will be given out at this time as well. Please wear appropriate outdoor clothing and footwear (open-toe sandals, flip-flops etc are not appropriate), and where possible bring your own trowel, small hand-brush, hand shovel and bucket.

Open Session for Friends of Greenwich Park:

Thursday 9 September from 2pm until 3.30, no need to pre-book.

Greenwich Park ground preparation work begins for 2012

LOCOG have issued the following press release:

'Work will begin this week at Greenwich Park to prepare it to be the Olympic Equestrian venue.  The work will be carried out by sub-contractors working on behalf of the London 2012 Olympic Organising Committee (LOCOG) in association with The Royal Parks. 
The works have been approved by the local planning authority, Greenwich Council, who granted planning permission in March 2010 for both the test event in 2011 and events in 2012, subject to a number of planning conditions. LOCOG is now discharging a number of these planning conditions which have been agreed with the four statutory consultees - The Royal Parks, English Heritage, Natural England, and Sport England.
The route of the Cross Country course will be marked out in August to clearly identify the course for ground preparation work. The work itself will improve the condition of the grass in the Park for the route of the Cross Country course which involves reducing the hardness of the ground, and ensuring the grass is sufficiently watered.  Temporary artificial grass tuft markers will be used which will remain in place until the course is visible when they will be carefully removed.  These markers are used in many sports grounds to mark out playing fields.
The works will include:
Irrigation – Water will be applied to the course from time to time to help the grass to grow and to develop stronger root systems.  Because of the dry summer, this will happen daily for the first few weeks;
De-compaction – Over many years of use the ground in the Park has become closely packed together. Works will reduce this compaction,  which in turn will improve the quality of the grass by allowing roots to develop and strengthen;
Mowing – Specialist mowers will encourage a thicker, stronger sward of grass;
Other works will include the filling of minor and localised hollows in the ground using topsoil and turf, the removal of stones from certain areas of the Cross Country course, fertilisation of the ground and some re-seeding of areas where grass cover is poor.

Enhancement works to increase areas of acid grassland elsewhere in the Park will also commence, as part of the LOCOG-funded restoration programme.  This will result in an increase in the quality of acid grassland, once re-instatement works are complete.
Much of the work is similar to that which is carried out by The Royal Parks and their contractors on a regular basis in Greenwich Park throughout the year such as mowing, slitting of the ground to aerate the soil, and selected watering.

Ground improvement work will begin in August 2010 and continue throughout 2011 and up to the Games in July 2012.  The regularity will vary depending on weather and ground conditions.  Some  works funded by LOCOG will continue beyond the Games to ensure the Park is returned to its previous condition as part of LOCOG’s commitment to re-instate the Park.'

LOCOG have also updated their website www.london2012.com/greenwichparkconsultation to reflect the new situation and the work underway (to be found under the heading 'Frequently asked questions'). They will continue to update it from time to time with further information.

Olympic Consultative Group

Greenwich Council is setting up a ‘Local Societies Consultative Group’ comprising representation from the Friends and the Blackheath, Greenwich and Westcombe Societies.

This was agreed in a meeting with senior borough planning officers and representatives of the London Organising Committee for the Olympic and Paralympic Games (LOCOG) and it will ensure that all four societies will have a full say on the outstanding matters that LOCOG need to deal with in order to meet the numerous conditions set when planning permission was given for the equestrian events in the Park.

Other bodies, including the Royal Parks, English Heritage and Natural England, are also monitoring the planning proposals, which will be dealt with in sets in several stages. The first is to do with plans for preparing the cross country course*.  Our comment on that will be submitted at the end of June. Provided Council approval is given shortly after, groundwork is likely to start during July. From then on we can expect to see LOCOG’s contractors in the Park, working on grass treatment such as irrigation, decompaction, seeding and fertilising.

Other elements in the planning application (eg Test Event, Games set-up, dismantling and removal etc) will be dealt with over the coming year and as each new set of submissions comes up, our four societies and the other bodies will be given advance notice and full opportunity to scrutinise and discuss all details before the recommendations are finalised.

A parallel arrangement for a transport group, on which the societies will also be represented, will be set up by the Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA) to deal with the issues relating to the Olympic Route Network (the ORN) and other transport arrangements.

Progress updates will be posted on the Friends website as LOCOG work through the wider detail of this first submission and subsequent sets later in the year.

*Full documentation of LOCOG’s first set of proposals to discharge the planning conditions can be found on the Council’s website www.greenwich.gov.uk in the Environment and Planning section.  Under the Quicklinks heading on the right hand side of the page, click on Planning applications search, then use the reference 10/1437/SD.

Update:  The Council gave their approval to this first set of proposals on 29 July.

Record turnout for Friends' Midsummer Jazz in the Park

There was a record audience of over 400 Friends and friends of Friends for our annual midsummer jazz concert in the Park on Sunday 20th June. Held, as usual, in the Observatory Garden, this concert has become a regular fixture in the Greenwich summer season.
Up in town, from the steaming bayous and swamplands of deepest Kent, the ever-popular Phoenix Dixieland Jazz Band once again turned on the style for this family event. New features this year included a bar, run by our corporate sponsors, Theatre of Wine, and an ice-cream stall. With the Garden looking its best, the sun breaking through and dancers of all ages up on their feet, many Friends voted this the best concert yet. 

Another Successful Plant Sale

A bright sunny day brought brisk trading to the Friends’ plant stall in the Blackheath Farmers’ Market on 13 June. As usual a small team of helpers was on hand to give help and advice on the wide range of plants on sale - mainly the offspring of mature parents donated by Park management, together with a good number propagated by members from their own gardens. Only a few remained unsold when the market closed. Our central location in the market also provided an ideal opportunity to give wider publicity to the forthcoming Jazz concert and to the Friends’ activities in general.
The plant sale is one of our more profitable events. If any member knows about plants and can help us grow and over-winter them and then help with the stall in June, we would be very pleased to hear from you.

Report on 13 June Bird Walk

Led by Joe Turner-Wing on this occasion
The group set off in search of the elusive Spotted Flycatcher. Unfortunately despite many pairs of binoculars trained on the foliage we were unable to see one. Despite this disappointment there were many interesting sightings during the morning.
Many young birds had recently fledged and could be observed following their parents and calling frantically for food as they went. Groups of Goldfinch were seen in trees high above the Rose garden. A Nuthatch was feeding one, possibly two, young west of the old reservoir. At the bottom of the observatory garden we saw a pair of Coal tit busily collecting insects from the bottom of leaves and feeding the young who pursued the adults calling as they went. A female Great Spotted Woodpecker was observed with a juvenile close to General Wolfe. We could hear a Chaffinch singing close to General Wolfe and scanned the trees hoping to spot it. As often happens, the bird was actually right in front of us singing low down on the edge of a branch. We were able to watch the brightly coloured male Chaffinch for some time. As we entered the woodland walk, the trails leading to the Deer enclosure, Blackcap could be clearly heard. The Blackcap appeared in trees above us and sat singing for some time. This was the clearest and longest sighting of Blackcap in the open I have ever had. As we moved further towards the Deer enclosure the Blackcap again appeared above us singing and seemed to be looking directly at us. It is possible that this bird is nesting nearby and was trying to distract us from the nest.
We walked towards the lake and were at the edge of the woodland walk when another fantastic sight came into view directly in front of us. A family of Goldcrest flitting from branch to branch busily collecting insects to feed the young, who were calling to the parents persistently. As we watched the Goldcrest we were joined by an inquisitive Robin and a pair of Great Tit with a young bird harassing them for food. At the lake we spotted a male Ring-Necked Parakeet in a small tree overhanging the lake accompanied by a juvenile. The male was regurgitating food to the hungry young bird. The young bird lost its footing and fell through the tree, but fortunately managed to catch hold of the last branch of the tree before the water. A good day indeed!
Species seen:
Swift, Goldcrest, Blackcap, Grea tSpotted Woodpecker, Dunnock, Blackbird, Robin, Parakeet, Stock Dove (briefly),  Goldfinch,  Greenfinch, Chaffinch, Great Tit, Blue Tit, Coal Tit, Mallard and Mistle Thrush.