2026
AGM – come and hear about achievements and plans
Wed 15 April 7.30 pm in The Orangery, Holland Park
Please put the date in your diary and do come and join us. The formal part (voting to approve the 2025 accounts and voting for your trustees) is usually over quickly, and then we will have time to talk about future projects and to hear your comments, questions and suggestions. The park continues to look impressive, in spite of significant challenges due to cuts in the Council’s budgets and process restrictions because of the major Cyber-attack on the Council’s website in December. As always, there is a great deal going on in the park and we are working closely with the parks teams to get projects agreed, paid for and implemented.
Our president, Eric Ellul, will chair the meeting and keep it all on track and on time.
Often, when it seems things are going well, people don’t feel they need to come to the AGM. But please do come as these are challenging times and we would like you to be part of the discussion. We also need your votes at the meeting to ensure your committee remains in place to carry on the work. Come with your thoughtful questions and share your ideas. The trustees need your support and want to know that we are representing you.
Members should please register to attend by contacting your chairman on jennie.kettlewell@thefriendsofhollandpark.org or calling 020 7243 0804.
We look forward to seeing lots of you on Wed 15 April.
Photo by Jennie Kettlewell.
[February 2026]
Holland Park’s original Japanese Garden
If you stand by the Ecology Centre and look east, you will see the ground cover has been cleared to reveal some old stones descending from the higher ground down towards where you are standing. What you are looking at is the original Japanese Garden. The water started from a spring near the current Holland Park Pond, and burbled through Sir Walter Cope’s Water Garden and rockery until it reached a pond roughly where today’s Kyoto Pond is sited. The Japanese Garden was created around 1900, starting at the bottom of the Water Garden, with a watercourse linking a series of small ponds and terminating at the entrance to the Adventure Playground. These gardens were a collaboration between the 5th Earl of Ilchester and his head gardener, Charles Dixon.
Some eight years ago, then head gardener, Rob May, planted drifts of snowdrops to emulate the water flowing down through the Japanese Garden. Look carefully, and you can see those lovely flowers heralding the spring once again. It is now the plan to keep this area cleared so we can enjoy the historic garden.
Illustration by Mike Thrift.
[February 2026]
Sandra French
This is very hard to write. Sandra French, a very loyal and active trustee for The Friends, died on 19 December. We had known she was very ill, but it still comes as a shock when someone close to us is no longer there.
Sandra was a true one-off. She warned me when she became a trustee that she would ask awkward questions and come up with lots of ideas which we would then have to implement. She did all of that. Her ideas were relevant and well thought through so we did implement them. One was the pop-event which we now hold regularly in the park. Another was the installation of a display cabinet for our merchandise in the park office. The most recent was a colouring book, based on Holland Park, which is now being produced. Even when she was seriously ill in hospital, she emailed me with an idea for the park. And I can remember her asking challenging questions that showed she really thought about what we were discussing. She told us: “I’m Australian, so I’ll say it straight.”
Beyond her great usefulness as a trustee was the fact she was a hugely positive person and she was such FUN to work with. When everything was going on at our annual art exhibition - the card machine wasn’t working, an artist had parked his car in the rose garden, we couldn’t borrow the park’s step ladder for hanging works and the green dots had gone missing – she just said “Okaaaaaaaay” and got on with sorting everything out.
Sandra, together with husband Gordon and daughter Alex, was instrumental in delivering The Friends’ annual art exhibition. We are managing, with a small support team, to get this year’s exhibition organised to the usual high standard but we do miss her. She did far more than our art exhibition, cheerfully manning our pop-up stall having brought a big bunch of balloons with her, welcoming visitors at the reception desk at all of our events, helping organise food for our events. She played a big part in what The Friends do and in raising our profile in the local community and we will never forget that.
By Jennie Kettlewell
[February 2026]
Membership Discount Cards and Subscriptions 2026
Payment for 2026. If the order form included with your newsletter is green, it means that your members’ discount card will expire on 15 March and you will no longer be able to enjoy the discounts, or our informative newsletters. To continue to enjoy this benefit, please renew your membership now. All subscriptions were due on 1 January, except for those who paid after 1 September 2025.
There are several ways to renew your membership. You can pay on our website www.thefriendsofhollandpark. Or you can send a cheque, payable to The Friends of Holland Park, to Margaret Rhodes, 25 Princedale Road, London W11 4NW.
Standing order for 2027 onwards. You need to pay the 2026 membership subscription now, but it helps us if you complete a bank Standing Order form, as it means your membership payment will be paid by your bank each year, and you will not have to remember to do it. You cannot complete a Standing Order form on our website, but you can use the one on the back of the green order form with this newsletter.
Donations. Some members choose to add a donation, which is appreciated. If you pay through our website, you can donate by clicking on an obvious yellow button on the home page.
Membership rates. Membership is £12 a year, or £9 for the over 65s. Joint subscriptions, for two people at the same address, cost £20, or £15 where both are over 65.
Our records are not infallible, so do contact Graham Franklin on 07802 761 548 or ggfranklin3@aol.com if you have a query.
However you pay, we are most grateful for your support, as the more members we have the more influence we can bring to bear in achieving our priorities for this wonderful park.
Rhoddy Wood
[February 2026]
Summer party in the park
Monday, 13 July 2026, 6-8pm in the marquee east of the Dutch Garden
Save the date in your diary and we will tell you more about it in our summer newsletter, on our park noticeboards and on our website, saying when and how you can book. The party is for members of The Friends only, though members are welcome to buy a ticket for a guest. It is the perfect place for a summer party, as the marquee offers a fine view of the seasonal planting in the formal garden. In past years we’ve had both heavy rain and hot sun on the occasions of our party – the marquee provides shelter from both! This venue is kindly loaned to us for the evening by Opera Holland Park.
[February 2026]
Dates for your Diary – events in Holland Park
The events listed below are either organised by The Friends (F), or organised by the Ecology Service (ES), most of which are sponsored by The Friends.
Sat. 7 Mar. Blue Badge guided tour. History of Holland House and the families that lived there. Last chance to see conserved building before it closes for the opera season. Must book. £10. F 2.30-4pm
Tues. 17 Mar. Friends’ Pop-up stall in Holland Park’s Café Yard. F 10am-4pm
Tues. 7 Apr. Friends’ Pop-up stall in Holland Park’s Café Yard. F 10am-4pm
Wed. 15 Apr. Friends’ AGM. For members only. Update on plans for the park and chance to ask questions and share your view. Please contact Jennie Kettlewell on 020 7243 0804, or
jennie.kettlewell@thefriendsofhollandpark.org to let her know you will attend. F 7.30pm Thurs. 16 Apr. Spring Tree Walk, led by Trevor Bowyer. Free but must book. ES 5-6.30pm
Wed. 22 Apr. Spring plant walk with Dr Mark Spencer. Free to attend, but must book. ES 6-8pm
Sat. 25 Apr. Blue Badge guided tour. Holland House – how it survived two World wars. Must book. £10. F 10.30am-2noon
Sat. 11-Sun 19 Apr. Friends’ Art Exhibition in the Holland Park Orangery. Free to visit. F 10.30am-6pm
Tues. 12 May. Herbal Medicine walk. Free to attend, but must book. ES 6-8pm
Sun. 17 May. Blue Badge guided tour. Architectural decoration on Holland Park’s historic buildings. F 2-3.30pm
Tues. 26 May. Friends’ Pop-up stall in Holland Park’s Café Yard. F 10am-4pm
Sun. 14 June. Blue Badge guided tour. Holland House – how it survived two World wars. Must book. £10. F 10.30 am–12noon
Wed. 17 June. Tree identification walk in Holland Park, led by Dr Alan Harrington. Free to attend. No need to book. Meet by The Friends’ noticeboard in the Café Yard. F 11am-1pm
Sat. 27 June. Butterfly
and Moth morning. Free to attend but must book. ES 10am-12noon
The Ecology Service (ES) events can be booked on Eventbrite.
The Friends’ (F) Blue Badge tours can be booked HERE on our website, or by contacting Isabelle Beaumont on 07549 138 461/IBeaumont@gmail.com. Unless otherwise instructed when you book, meet by The Friends’ notice board in the Café Yard.
Holland Park Conservation Volunteers (adults) meet on the third Saturday of each month from 10.30am to 3.30 pm. Tasks focus on practical conservation that helps deliver the Ecology Service management plan and might include dead-hedging, scything, pond clearing and maintaining the paths in the Wildlife Enclosure. If you want to join, or find out more, please email Gerry Kelsey, idverde’s Training and Community Manager, at Gerald.Kelsey@idverde.co.uk.
Dates for your Diary – events in Holland Park
The events listed below are either organised by The Friends (F), or organised by the Ecology Service (ES), most of which are sponsored by The Friends.
Guided tours of Holland Park
Expert Blue Badge Guides will entertain you with fascinating stories about the long history of Holland Park and what went on there – scandals and all.
Sat. 7 March. 2.30pm-4pm. History of Holland House and the people who lived there. Last opportunity to see the front of Holland House before the area is closed for the summer opera.
GuideLeila Sukiur
Sat. 25 April. 10.30pm-12 noon. Holland House in two world wars – how it survived.
Guide Rowan Freeland. New tour!
Sun. 17 May. 2.00-3.30pm. The glorious architectural decoration on the Park’s historic buildings. Rare access to the tiled walkway above the café.
Guide Leila Sukiur. New tour!
£10.00 per person
Book a ticket HERE.
Meeting point will be on the ticket.
Any questions about these tours should be addressed to Isabelle Beaumont on 07549 138 461/IBeaumont@gmail.com. Unless otherwise instructed when you book, meet by The Friends’ notice board in the Café Yard.
The Ecology Service (ES) events can be booked on Eventbrite.
Holland Park Conservation Volunteers (adults) meet on the third Saturday of each month from 10.30am to 3.30 pm. Tasks focus on practical conservation that helps deliver the Ecology Service management plan and might include dead-hedging, scything, pond clearing and maintaining the paths in the Wildlife Enclosure. If you want to join, or find out more, please email Gerry Kelsey, idverde’s Training and Community Manager, at Gerald.Kelsey@idverde.co.uk.
[February 2026]