The Friends are becoming a more robust, joined up and representative organisation, with a large voluntary membership and plans for a new Steering Committee, that will include other neighbourhood voluntary organisations and community stakeholders. Friends of Manor House Garden have a Chair and Vice Chair, a user group and a steering committee and meet once a month.

 The Friends work closely with Lewisham Council, the Glendale Park Management team to keep the park clean and safe, protect and encourage the rich wildlife and ecology provided by the historic lake, the River Quaggy and the many trees and plants which form the land around the historic Manor House.

We have developed 7 Park Placemaking Principals, drawn from Glendale’s’ Green Flag Management Plan. The Seven are designed to ensure a safe, attractive, and sustainable environment for the benefit of all park users now and in the future. and to support the work of Lewisham Council and Glendale park management team. The 7 Park Placemaking Principals will guide the work of the Friends going forward, informing our activities, fundraising, meetings, and lobbying.

1.      Participation & Inclusion / Monitor service delivery and provide user feedback

2.      Signage & Wayfinding / Ensure a healthy and safe experience for users 

3.      Cultural Placemaking / Provide a well-maintained and clean green space

4.      Ecology & Nature / Improve environmental quality and sustainability practices 

5.      History & Heritage / Maintain restored historic landscape character, whilst ensuring provision for contemporary users

6.      Events & Activities / Provide opportunities to increase community use and involvement through events and education 

7.      Access for All / Ensure effective promotion of the park as a community resource

The Friends are keen to utilise the ideas and energy of the COP 26 conference, which promoted a climate of personal responsibility for our impact on the planet. We would like to engage with young people marching and commenting on the issues which are affecting people and communities all over the world including, especially the impact of plastics and pollutants on our environment and wildlife. We take an optimistic and proactive approach to improving the park.

The Friends invest in a wide range of park events and activities, including a new community flower bed, planting fruiting hedges, plants, bulbs, and new trees. We have helped restore the historic lake and during Covid when the park had a significant increase in visitor’s we introduced new litter bins and attractive signage. In 2020 we funded and installed new outside gym equipment and updated and replaced some of the old playground equipment.

On the first Saturday of each-month we run a Litter-Pickers event at 10.00am where volunteers help clean up the park. At the same time the Community Garden volunteers work on our wonderful garden.

The Community Flower Garden is planted and tended by a Friends group with a passion for creating a wildlife-friendly flowerbed project in Manor House Gardens, Lee. The old flower garden was originally a dusty, forgotten plot of land at the Manor Lane entrance to the park before being ‘liberated’ in 2014 and planted it up with perennials donated from local gardens (for sustainability). Over the years, the group has ebbed and flowed as new people arrive in the area and children grow up and move away. Local people have busy lives, but meeting up with whoever happens to be around once a month for an hour or so weeding in the open air is a joy. This is no ‘tonsured show garden’ but a democratic space where the volunteers learn from each other, enjoying the toads, bees, butterflies and even a newt that make their homes in the garden. Nowadays there is a battery pump, to pump water from the river (instead of hauling it up from the bridge in sandcastle buckets) and compost bins, which every year send the bed’s green waste back as healthy compost, improving the soil and the next year’s blooms.

This year will see the relaunch of the Friends of Manor House Garden Festival. This is a hugely popular local event and our main source of sponsorship and fundraising. The 2022 festival will have a Community Village with 14 local community organisations attending. There will be a stage, a ‘culture corner’ with talks and lectures a children’s areas, street food and a fun fair. Manor House Gardens is the ‘emerald jewel’ in the crown for Lewisham and the local community and this year there is a lot to celebrate, it is the 250th anniversary of the Manor House and the year of Lewisham Borough of Culture.