Volunteers
Newsletter deliverers
By far the majority of our quarterly newsletters are put into envelopes and delivered to members by hand by a team of volunteers taking responsibility for discrete areas of Kensington and Chelsea. In this way The Friends save about £1,600 a year on postage, which can be better spent towards our aims and objectives.
If you are able to join this group, even if not for every issue, and would enjoy an occasional walk in a part of The Royal Borough convenient to you, please contact our Secretary, Mrs Rhoddy Wood.
Publicity Drops
Kensington and Chelsea have a high turnover of population - about 20% each year. Inevitably the turnover in our members reflects this to some degree so we always need to be drawing attention to The Friends if we are to maintain the numbers of members and the influence that brings us.
So twice a year, usually in spring and autumn, we carefully choose streets where we think the response will be rewarding and put publicity through every letterbox. We need volunteers to do this who are prepared to stuff, address and deliver about a hundred envelopes each. The streets are pleasant to walk and, though the response does vary, our most recent star brought in 14 new members donating £500 by post. Sometimes the letters say "Thank you for bringing The Friends to our attention".
To offer your help or check further details please contact Rhoddy Wood.
Volunteers in the Park, aka VIPs
This is for those of you who like getting your hands dirty gardening, but have little or no opportunity to do so. The Park welcomes all the help it can get whether with light jobs like dead heading or hand weeding or heavier work like uprooting brambles in inappropriate places.
In the first instance, do contact Rhoddy Wood if you would like to discuss the possibilities with her. She will put you in touch with the Head Gardener, who will arrange a half hour appointment with you to satisfy Health & Safety requirements. This means a little paperwork and instruction in safe procedures. After that, a name tag and notebook will be put in a box for you in Park Reception and when you want to garden all you have to do is to sign in. With the box is always a general list of jobs wanting doing and some basic tools. For the stronger ones of you, there are occasional opportunities to help park staff teams with bedding out or clearing, but you do have to book ahead for these.