At our Friends meeting in January 2023 at The Crown & Sceptre Pub, former Chair and current trustee Tony Emerson proposed the Big Help Out as a good opportunity to get volunteers out and working in the parks. As a charity we are set up to look after, represent and organise activities for people to participate in. Such an event would present an opportunity to engage with new volunteers as it would get good publicity being a national campaign as promoted and encouraged by King Charles III.
So as a committee we agreed this was a good idea and Chair Steph Charalambous suggested the Palace Road Nature Garden as a location where we hadn’t done any events since before COVID and so far in 2023 had not received much attention from Lambeth Landscapes (sort of the point with a Nature Garden) but it does require maintenance to ensure it is accessible to all who visit.
In advance of the date the key to the tools container was handed over. This was helpful to check what tools were there and what we might require from
elsewhere. In advance of the day a meeting was had with Parks Development Officer Mered Jones to understand the possible tasks and priorities.
Steph had produced a poster in advance to promote the event, posters were put up in the Hillside Gardens park noticeboards and on the gates of the Nature garden. This was also circulated in local and relevant WhatsApp groups. Andreas Kappes our communications officer sent out an email enticing all who were interested to join us on the bank holiday Monday.
Steph had requested a delivery of woodchip. this duly arrived from the Lambeth tree team on the Thursday before the weekend.
Tom, Robbie, Indy along with Chief Refreshments Officer Evan Lerwill met in the Hillside Gardens yard to collect wheel barrows and shovels.
We had a couple of hours designated with volunteers arriving from 10:00 in suitable attire and the all-important gardening gloves.
The majority of the group worked in the orchard which had been planted in 2019. It has a wide variety of fruit trees apple, plum, pear, quince with currant and gooseberry bushes. The focus here was on weeding the areas at the base of all the fruit trees in the orchard which hadn’t been done in 2023. Couch grass pulled up, bindweed, ivy removed, some bramble where it was going to dominate at the expense of the trees. This was all taken out of the orchard and put in a large ton rubble sack.
The woodchip was then spread around the base of the trees and bushes. The benefit is that it suppresses any weed growth and retains moisture in the soil.
There were another 2 groups working in different areas of the nature garden to ensure that the woodland paths were free from ivy, brambles and nettles. This is so anyone can enjoy walking around the variety of paths. These have logs to mark out the edge of the path from where the undergrowth and vegetation can grow without the interference of the gardeners secateurs. Woodchip was also distributed on the paths.
This work included reclaiming a bench that could no longer be sat on because of overgrown brambles. This was one installed by TCV back in 2019.
Children collected rubbish and filled 3 black bags plus litter was put into the bins around the Nature Garden. The children also enjoyed running about, kicking a football, generally having fun in a space without automobiles and too many rules.
We paused at 10:30 to check the status on what we were doing and acknowledge all of us working together. This also gave the opportunity for a break to take on refreshments such as biscuits, water and squash. We reckon there was 33 of us in total ranging from toddlers, school age children and those of more senior years.
It was decided all the grass, weeds, ivy and bramble would be taken to decompose at a vacant spot at the rear of the garden.
We finished up by returning all the tools to the container and taking wheelbarrows back to the Hillside Gardens yard.
The ease of the day is that you could just turn up and join in giving as little or as much time as you wished. You don’t have to be a Royalist to enjoy time working outdoors with others and embracing our local nature spot which is appreciated by so many in the neighbourhood especially small creatures such as newts as there are two ponds
Friends of Hillside Gardens And Palace Road Nature Garden 