Public Events

Items associated with public events in any of our parks

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Project Funding Approved

We have just heard that our application, for nearly £20k funding for our ‘Love Bromley Palace Park‘ project has been successful. We had applied to Bromley council for this from the borough-wide Platinum Jubilee Fund. It is the intention to make this park, with its historic features and wonderful setting, better used and appreciated by the public. With the council selling the rest of the site this is even more important, as is preserving good public access at all times, including during any construction phase. All Bromley council staff will have moved from here to the new Civic Centre later by end of 2024.

Below is the view across the Lake towards historic Bromley Palace, taken in 2015. This view is now obscured by tree saplings. We aim to restore views such as these as part of our project .

Items to be installed include-

  • Park sign on Rochester Avenue
  • Waymarker posts around parks
  • Lectern style information boards
  • A new Persimon tree – replacing one that will be lost
  • Leafy and flowering plants
  • Picnic table and benches – transferred from other parts of site.

In parallel with this we will be organising monthly volunteer work parties, in which we will improve the biodiversity of the park, and enhance the setting of various Grade 2 listed features*. You can find details of these work parties on our Events page.

*The repair of these listed features are not part of this project.

To find out more about our project please go to Campaigns/Bromley Palace Park

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Free Events in Church House Gardens this Saturday

A couple of very interesting events will be taking place in Church House Gardens this Saturday 30th July. They are; all day Poetry, and Skateboard activities. These are FREE but you will need to book beforehand to take part in associated workshops. See posters for full details.

Events poster

To find out more about Church House Gardens and the facilities that can be found there CLICK HERE.

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Great Expectations in our park

There will be several chances to see a performance of this Charles Dickens classic in Church House Gardens this week. This will be held in the atmospheric Ampitheatre, and performed by a local theatre group. Further details can be found below.

You can find out more about Church House Gardens and its Ampitheatre HERE

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Bromley parks consultation

Daffodils on Martins Hill

In the past few weeks Bromley council have been consulting on their draft Open Spaces Strategy. The closing date for submissions was 7th January 2021. We as well as other Friends groups, other groups and members of the public from across the borough, totalling about 800, are understood to have responded to this draft document. We felt that the document was poorly laid out and very difficult to read, and that the associated online survey was severely limited in its options. So therefore instead we sent them a detailed submission.

The main points of our response included –

  • We welcomed the recognition of important role of Friends and other local community groups.
  • The true financial value to our health and well being (aka ‘Natural Capital’) of our green spaces is not to be quantified, as against asset value by “repurposing” (e.g. sale for commercial development).
  • Concerned that main aim of this document appeared to be to justify the exploitation of our green spaces as assets; for either inappropriate income generation, either by ‘repurposing’ for commercial purposes, or even disposal for building developments. 
  • Our strong opposition to any suggestion of installing turbines or solar cells on Martins Hill, a recognised site of biodiversity.
  • No realistic measurements of success seem to be provided in this document.

To read our full submission PLEASE USE THIS LINK

Councillor Huntington-Thresher, Executive Councillor for the Environment, has released a statement stating that they “……were not about to sell any park and that we adore our green spaces and environment.” However our previous experience is that the council has been only too willing to sell off parts of public parks for commercial development; e.g. parts of Queens Gardens, part of Bromley Palace Park.

The council have advised that they have received some 800 submissions and that  “The final analysis alongside an updated Open Space Strategy will be discussed at a future meeting of the Environment PDS Committee before the long-term strategy is adopted.” Our Friends group shall be following this ongoing process very actively.

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Welcoming a New Year

With the passing of the old year, and the start of another it seemed appropriate to celebrate New Years Day with a walk around all seven of our town centre parks. A hardy few turned up, despite the gloomy weather, to work off any results of the Christmas festivities and to enjoy the open spaces of our parks. On our walk we encountered only a few other park users, either walking their dogs or jogging. Otherwise we had the parks to ourselves. Some overflowing waste bins, and remains of spent fireworks on Martins Hill provided evidence of previous celebrations.

After walking through Church House Gardens we passed by the Mill Pond and the Ravensbourne feeding it, now back to its usual flow of water, a couple of visiting cormorants were sighted as well as two resident Egyptian geese who landed in nearby lake. Also spotted were a large number of golf balls isolated on the now bare mud bank. Occasionally passing members of the public have thought of these as small ‘eggs’! These have in fact floated downstream, probably from a local golf club or driving range.

Golf balls deposited on mud bank

After visiting several other parks, and finding them in ‘good order’, we finally arrived at Bromley Palace Park (aka Civic Centre Grounds) where we initially had a setback when we discovered that the gates at the Rafford Way entrance were locked.

Locked gates, Rafford Way

Undeterred by this we instead managed to gain access to the park via the main entrance, where the automatic doors opened as usual. Needless to say we had the site to ourselves. We visited the listed features including the Ice House and the Pulhamite Cascade which we are campaigning to be restored. We duly took a photo, in front of the listed former Palace building, to celebrate our visit.

We normally end our park walks with refreshments in the on site canteen. But as it was inevitably closed we decided to call it a day and make our ways home, wondering what opportunities and challenges our Friends group would encounter in 2020.