What We Do
Support and Work with Park Management
The Friends work closely with the Park Manager and the Royal Parks over park developments and priorities.
Events and Activities
The Friends organise social and other events related to the Park and the local area to raise funds to support the Park, to add to public knowledge and interest in the Park, to create publicity for the Friends - and to add to the pleasures of membership of a group of like-minded people.
The Friends stage a hugely popular series of free concerts at the Bandstand on Sunday afternoons in July and August, featuring bands covering a wide range of musical styles.
Royal Parks and Greenwich Park management also organise events including walks and demonstrations which are publicised in the Friends Newsletter and this website as well as on the Park notice boards and the Royal Parks website
Volunteering
Volunteers are in regular demand to give practical help to Park management as well as to the Friends. Training is provided by Royal Parks specialists where necessary. Volunteering opportunities include
- Stewarding and helping at Friends events such as the Annual Lecture, wildlife talks and Midsummer Jazz in the Observatory Gardens
- Publicity for fund raising and social events
- Distributing the three times a year Friends Newsletter
- Membership of the Friends Committee, particularly if you have a special interested in events organising, fund raising and membership campaigns.
Contact the Friends’ Volunteers Coordinator here
Wildlife Group
The Friends Wildlife Group meets regularly to discuss wildlife issues with Park management and the Royal Parks community ecologist, to organise and support baseline surveys of flora and fauna in the park and to publicise their findings. They also encourage park management to take biodiversity into account wherever possible.
The Friends strongly supported the creation of the Wildlife Centre, opened near the Lake in the Flower Gardens in October 2002. Our volunteers organise the regular last Saturday of the month ‘Family Wildlife Activities’ on behalf of the Royal Parks, and have special openings for the RSPB ‘Feed the Birds’ and ‘Big Garden Bird Watch’ events. There are wildlife-related craft activities for children and, outside the nesting season, guided walks in the Nature Trail.
The Friends of the Royal Parks Forum ('Friends Forum')
The chairmen of all the Royal Parks Friends groups meet regularly to discuss common issues and make their views known to the chief executive of the Royal Parks, the Royal Parks Advisory Board and the Department of Culture, Media and Sport.
Local Liaison
The Friends actively cooperate with other local amenity groups, the National Maritime Museum and the Maritime Greenwich World Heritage Site over issues that affect the park and its surrounding area.
Friends Newsletter
The Friends publish a newsletter three times a year to inform members of developments in Greenwich Park and the Royal Parks, to put forward views and to publicise Friends and Royal Parks events in or linked to Greenwich Park.