Autumn is in the words of Keats "the season of mists and mellow fruitfulness" and this autumn has seen the Royal Parks resplendent in their autumn colours of red, yellow, green, copper and gold. For me it has also seen the start of our twice yearly breakfast meetings with local residents and stakeholders for each of our parks. Once again it has reinforced to me both the similarities and the uniqueness of each park.
The similarities are that each park is supported by people who really care about what happens in their local park and who are genuinely interested in what we are doing to preserve and conserve the parks. They range from local residents and Friends group chairs, to councillors and those with an interest in their respective park such as Regent's Park Zoo and the National Maritime Museum at Greenwich. Dependent on the park stakeholder meetings may also include representatives from the army, the Churchill War Rooms, the Open Air Theatre or the Mall Galleries. All attendees take a particular interest in the Park Manager's report and also in what our funding gap is and our plans to generate income. At every meeting, there was a positive endorsement of the way in which The Royal Parks responded to the Diamond Jubilee and Olympic and Paralympic challenges.
At Greenwich we concentrated on the ongoing reinstatement works following the equestrian events, covering what had been achieved to date and what would happen next. Pictures produced by the Park Manager were beamed up on an overhead screen and showed which areas had been re-seeded or re-turfed and new aspects of the children's playground including sheep and a tractor from the cross country event.
At St James's and Green Parks we again talked about the reinstatement works in particular, after the beach volley ball events and training courts. We also talked about the year's ceremonial events and some potential events for 2013.
At Hyde Park and Kensington Gardens again reinstatement was right to the fore and in particular plans to restore the Parade Ground in 2013 and the progress made on the Cockpit area following the triathlon. The new concert providers and events for 2013 were also hot topics.
Regent's Park and Primrose Hill included the success of the Paralympic Torch, the Discovery Trail and work on new reed-beds.
Bushy and Richmond again both touched on the Olympic events with tree health and deer management on both agendas. Richmond also included an update on the Heritage Lottery Fund works, which are enabling us to improve access to the much loved Isabella Plantation.
I personally found all the meetings invaluable as not only did it give us the chance to update everyone, but it was also a chance for us to listen and to get feedback on a variety of issues from Oak Processionary Moth, to professional dog walkers and wild flower meadows. Everyone agreed that the meetings were valuable and should continue at half yearly intervals. In some cases we agreed to have follow up meetings with local residents to for example, introduce them to the new concert providers AEG and to attend their committee or Friends Group meetings.
