Please join us to 'Welcome the Cherry Trees'
on 18 May at 11.30am
Successful Litter Pick Last Sunday
Future Litter Pick Dates
Dawn Chorus Bird Walk Details: 15 May at 5.30am
Future Walks: Dates for your Diary
Repeat of Butterfly Transect Info
Help Brent Council Prevent Illegal Motor Scooters
Gladstone Gardening Group: Roses delight
Peace Grove and Other trees Flowering
Let's Talk Climate: Have your say: Link
Get Ready for Brent in Bloom 2022
JOIN EASY FUNDRAISING Nominate FOGP as your Charity
AMAZON: When buying choose FOGP as your Charity
Memorial Benches. How to buy one
POLICE: New Info for reporting Mopeds in the Park
Wednesday 18 May at 11.30am
Venue: By the upper children's playground
What3words: frogs.globe.clouds
Brent Council and the Friends of Gladstone Park would like to invite you to a ceremony to welcome the 100 Sakura cherry trees recently planted in the park It is an opportunity to hear from the Sakura Project sponsors and meet with the Mayor and Brent Parks Department
Gladstone Park was chosen to receive 100 of the over 6000 cherry trees funded by Japanese companies and organised by the Sakura Project in token of the long friendship between Britain and Japan.
Cherry blossoms or sakura, are celebrated every year by Japanese people who enjoy 'hanami' or 'flower viewing'.
Cherry blossom time represents a period of renewal and optimism and symbolises the transience of life, a major theme in Buddhism.
Fifty pink Prunus 'Beni-yutaka' have been planted along the cycle route and fifty white Prunus 'Tai-haku' or great white cherry trees have been planted up the path to the children's playground from the cycle track.
Interestingly, the great white cherry was believed to have died out in Japan and was re-introduced from the UK. According to Hillier's Tree Nursery all P. 'Tai-Haku' cherry trees stem from the one found in the Sussex garden.
Thank you to all the wonderful local people who came along and helped clean up the park last Sunday
We didn't think there was much but, as usual, we found more than we anticipated!!
FUTURE LITTER PICKS Sunday 22 May from 10am-12 Meet at the park entrance by Anson Road North ///scuba.going.soup Saturday, 25 June from 10am
Meet by the walled garden.begin.garden.when ALL WELCOME. Bags and litter picks will be provided. Please wear gloves.
DAWN CHORUS BIRD WALK SUNDAY, 15 May: 5.30am
Leader: Andrew Peel of RSPB Meet at the old house footprint by the walled garden.
What3words: plus.leaves.pops If you live south of the park and would prefer not to walk through the park on your own as it will still be dark, meet Robert at the Anson Road entrance at 5.15am. ///scuba.going.soup
MORE WALKS
SATURDAY, 21 MAY: 11am: Nature walk with John Wells naturalist, of the Selborne Society
TUESDAY, 7th JUNE: 6.30pm: History and Myths of Gladstone Park with Cathy Mercer, lecturer and tour guide
SATURDAY, 16 JULY: 11am: How to Recognise Tree Species with Bettina Metcalfe, dendrologist
AUGUST: Date to be confirmed: Plant Walk Along the Southern Railway Line Hedge with Helen of Friends of Gladstone Park
Repeat: ENTHUSIASTS ARE MONITORING BUTTERFLIES IN GP
Some members of the Gardening Group have become involved with the Big City Butterflies project run by Butterfly Conservation. This is a four year project which started in May 2021. Delivered across London's inner Boroughs, the project presents a huge opportunity to test new approaches to butterfly and moth conservation in a major urban landscape. One strand of this project is to involve local volunteers in monitoring and reporting on butterfly populations in a variety of green spaces in London.
With the help of a Conservation Officer from Butterfly Conservation, a set route (transect) around Gladstone park has been established to take in the various habitats - notably the acid grassland, hedgerows and the area in and around the copse. At least one of the volunteers will walk this transect every week between now and September, recording the butterflies seen and providing the information to the UK Butterfly Monitoring Scheme There is more information on the Butterfly Conservation website Butterfly Conservation Projects
Last Sunday the butterfly team walked with the Project Manager for Big City Butterflies around the park and recorded the following butterflies: 4 x peacock, 2 x speckled wood, 1 x holly blue and 1 x small white. We will await with interest to find out if the seeds locals sowed in the park donated by the project increase the varieties seen.
BRENT COUNCIL WANT INFO ON ILLEGAL MOTOR SCOOTERS CROSSING THE PARK
Brent Council's Kelly Eaton would like anyone seeing motor scooters illegally crossing the park which have clear signs of the company the rider is working for to inform them by email as below. They will take it up with the companies involved.
Email: brent.parks.services@brent.gov.uk
GLADSTONE GARDENING GROUP: GGG News
Alas, alack we need rain!!!
The GGG have been weeding and weeding the perennial and rose beds. The wisterias continue to delight and the clash of pink wisteria with the orange marigold by the public loo is interesting!!
The yellow climbing roses are flowering with enthusiasm and brighten up cloudy days. Thank you Denyse for the photo. The rest of the roses look healthy and seem to be responding well to having been fed early on in the season.
Other photos below: On the top terrace the irises with the long lasting flowers of the bulb Ipheion. Thank you to the kind woman who gave me the irises for the park several years ago as she had too many!! The other is one of the new roses planted, Rosa 'Rhapsody in Blue'
PEACE GROVE TREES and BIRD CHERRY TREE
Several of the Peace Grove trees are flowering now, such as the crab apple, Malus yunannensis x veitchii, the white flower with buds, the wild service tree, Sorbus torminalis, a white flower looking a little past its best now and Magnolia 'Susan' shown below.
The many varieties of trees chosen for the Peace Grove mean that one or other is in flower over several months including one that flowers in August. They bring great joy when so many perennial garden plants are only just getting going.
The elongated white flowers are of Prunus padus or bird cherry, a British native tree. There's a fine one in the park along Kendal Road and another on the top terrace, just in from Dollis Hill Lane, which is sprouting from the tree trunk where a larger one was removed.
LET'S TALK CLIMATE: BRENT COUNCIL
Samantha Haines at Brent Council is asking Brent residents to participate as below:
The climate emergency means the way we do things as a council and as a community has to change. We have launched Let’s Talk Climate: waste and green space to ask for your views on what we can do differently and what you expect from us as we work together towards a cleaner, greener Brent.
We are looking for fresh bold ideas. Your feedback could change how waste and recycling is managed, how we keep streets clean and how green spaces are maintained. It will also feed into the delivery of our Climate Strategy and help shape the future of Brent >> Watch this video to learn more, then get involved and start sharing your ideas
THE BRENT IN BLOOM COMPETITION WILL TAKE PLACE AGAIN NEXT YEAR. IT IS GOOD NEWS FOR OWNERS OF FABULOUS FRONT GARDENS, THOSE WHO HAVE WONDERFUL WINDOW BOXES OR COLOURFUL CONTAINERS, BUSINESSES, COMMUNAL GARDENS AND OTHER CATEGORIES SUCH AS SUSTAINABLE GARDENS AND GARDENS FOR WILDLIFE
To enter and for more info on the categories: Brent in Bloom
DO PLEASE JOIN EASYFUNDRAISING IT IS SUCH AN EASY WAY TO CONTRIBUTE TO THE FRIENDS OF GLADSTONE PARK.
For example if you buy anything from John Lewis they donate 2% of the value to the Friends! These donations help the Gladstone Gardening Group to buy tulips, alliums and other bulbs for spring colour and contribute to the perennial beds in the walled garden.
HELP MAKE YOUR PARK EVEN MORE BEAUTIFUL BY CONTRIBUTING
RAISE MONEY FOR THE FRIENDS OF GLADSTONE PARK
VIA EASY FUNDRAISING
A huge variety of companies are paying charity donations via the website Easy Fundraising.
Follow the link below and nominate the Friends of Gladstone Park as your charity. Download the app which allows you to see which companies support charities this way when you use your browser. https://www.easyfundraising.org.uk/panel/ AND VIA AMAZON SMILE https://smile.amazon.co.uk/ch/1180529-0
We will use your funding to encourage the park's wildlife, plant in the walled garden and copse and for projects to enhance the park
MEMORIAL BENCHES: MORE NEEDED AS WE WOULD LIKE SOME ALONG THE NEW CYCLE PATH AND IN THE PEACE GROVE. People like to rest, stare at the sun, comfort their baby or just admire the view when walking the park especially along the new cycle track where there is just one bench at present.
Is there a loved one you would like to remember and think about when visiting the Gladstone Park?
PHOTO: Najma sitting on the bench dedicated to her husband COST: Email: brent.parks.services@brent.gov.uk
or speak to Brent Council on 020 8937 5619
NO MOPEDS PERMITTED TO DRIVE IN THE PARK If you see a moped in the park, photograph it with the number plate visible and take down details of the time and where you saw it. Email your ward SNT as below and the police have agreed to follow this up where there is sufficient evidence.
Mopeds are not allowed to drive through the park and people are not allowed to sleep in the park. If you have information about mopeds, rough sleeping or antisocial behaviour:
Email or Tweet your ward, either Dollis Hill, Dudden Hill or Mapesbury Safer Neighbourhood Team, (SNT), as below.
Do not put yourself at risk by taking photographs of people, but make a note of registration numbers, descriptions, time and location.
Remember that the SNT can only follow up messages when they are on a working shift, so they should not be contacted about urgent issues.
PHONE 999 if the suspect is nearby or if anyone is hurt or in danger. If you see a weapon or drug dealing and the dealer is visible, call 999. If you find a hidden stock of drugs, call 999.
