News

It had been a long, long week. The day job, now a computer in the spare room was busy and demanding. I was “zoomed” out. The news was just depressing — more people infected, tragically more deaths, disputes over whose vaccine it was and who got what, when and where — having had a glass of red too many on Friday night I needed a reboot. Lockdown 63, week 4,786 and counting was getting us all down!

A Natural Winter Wonderland for Kensington Gardens and Hyde Park

For the first time in many years, sadly no ‘Winter Wonderland’ in Hyde Park. However, we were blessed with a ‘Natural Winter Wonderland’ on the morning of Sunday 24th January with families having such fun in the snow. The brief snowfall turned our parks into an open air gallery of some amazing snowmen and women, clearly lots of creativity around.

“Ring out, wild bells,….. Ring out the old, ring in the new,….”

from ‘In Memorium’ by Alfred Lord Tennyson

And so we creep into 2021 and still there’s uncertainty and anxiety. I hope that, having survived the oddest Christmas and New Year, offers of the Vaccine will be rolling towards you any day soon.

When we’ve reached the time of year when darkness is considerably longer than daylight it’s hard, sometimes, to stay cheerful.

Even on a very cold, damp day though, we really enjoyed the newest treats to arrive in Hyde Park and Kensington Gardens. Sculptor Tom Harvey has created, thanks to Mission Invertebrate (funded by the People’s Post Code Lottery), sculptures using fallen or felled Park trees, to give us some wooden gems to search out and enjoy.

THE PARKS WERE ALIVE WITH THE SOUND OF MUSIC…
at least for a day in Hyde Park opera soared amongst the leafy glades.

The production of ‘Opera Scenes’ from our neighbouring Conservatoire, the Royal College of Music (RCM), would normally, be a keenly anticipated show to packed audiences in their own Britten Theatre.

This exotic name isn’t the title of a new Ben Macintyre book. Regular visitors to both Parks may well have seen this project in action.

At about mid-morning you may see a large horsebox rumbling along Policeman’s Path towards the Old Police House in Hyde Park. As it passes you may also notice, through its tiny windows, pairs of pricked up ears.

Giant Shire horses leisurely disembark and are ready for their days work. Roughly three times a year they visit each of the rough meadow areas at Buck Hill (Kensington Gardens) and in the north of Hyde Park.

As we plan for the future and the financial challenges we now face, we’re looking at how we can improve people’s experiences in The Parks even further. The Royal Parks are hoping to analyse the interests of longstanding visitors who have recently discovered The Royal Parks as a result of lockdown, to learn more about visitors’ interests, preferred methods of accessing information and behaviour in The Parks.