Friends of Preston Park

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A survey of the Rose Garden reveals that we currently house 6 of the 10 David Austin  shrub roses with royal connections. The white William and Catherine, the deep pink Princess Anne, the tea fragrance Princess Alexandra of Kent, the old rose fragrance Queen of Denmark, the light pink Queen of Sweden and the rich pink England’s Rose.

It has been suggested we add Elizabeth, named in honour of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II,  to our collection. It is a pale pink-apricot shrub rose which pales into gentle white and has a strong sweet fragrance, which will bring  pleasure to all our visitors of the Rose Garden.

Having reached 80% of our appeal target we need to raise a further £250 by the end of this month to start ordering the shrub roses we need to plant in the autumn, so that we can enjoy the blooms of our new additions next spring.

Please donate using the Donate button on this website. 

The long awaited new sculpture for Preston Park was unveiled yesterday. Artist Elpida Hadzi-Vasileva’s vision of the ‘Gilded Elm’ has saved the diseased 400 year old elm tree trunk from being incinerated and transformed it into a magnificent piece of art. Paul Campbell from CityParks praised Elpida’s tenacity and drive, spending two years stripping the bark and  lovingly restoring the trunk. The imposing sculpture, painted in gold leaf inside and tinted black outside, can be seen in the Coronation Garden opposite its ‘twin’, thought to be the oldest elm in the world. 

Brighton and Hove is home to the National Elm Collection, the only one in the country along with Edinburgh in Scotland.

 Pauline Sutherland from Plumpton College and her Level 1 Horticulture students came to do some practical work in Preston Park. They applied their gardening skills to the Coronation Garden and weeded, tamed and reshaped the beds on the north side. Pauline led the team with energy and enthusiasm and much was achieved in one morning. We are looking forward to future visits from Plumpton College students and work collaboratively in the park.

Friends of Preston Park would like to apologise to any of those people who are dissatisfied with the plaque for the cherry tree walk in Preston Park. It has come to our attention that some of the information regarding names is incorrect. Therefore, we are asking that those who believe that they should have a different attribution or name to get in touch with us at: info@friendsofprestonpark.org by the 15th June 2023 so that we can rectify our mistake. Apologies. FoPP

Friends of Preston Park (FoPP) held its annual Easter Quiz in a sunny in Preston Park last Sunday. Children and their accompanying parents came along for a topical quiz mostly centred around the park, that was rewarded with a small chocolate egg once the questions were complete. Face painters from Tick Boom were also on hand to provide some excellent face and hand (for the under two-year-olds) designs. Finally, many of those who had completed the quiz stayed on to join in the drawing competition. Many of the submissions were either based on the park or on Easter and some on both! The standard was very high, considering the time constraints and we would like to congratulate everyone who took part. However, we had to choose some winners. The aged nine and above category was co-won by Noah Temme, aged nine and Tommy Li, also aged nine. Runners up were Oliver Cooper, aged 12 and Daisy Haslan, aged 10. In the eight and under category, the co-winners were Manuella Mercado, aged six and Mia Adamovic, also aged six. Runners up were Mimi Sherif, aged six and Elena Kosta, also aged six. Congratulations to all our prize winners! All entrants can be viewed on our website. 

May we also thank all our FoPP volunteers who gave up their time to prepare for this event and spend much of Easter Sunday making it happen! It made a great day! See you all again next year, we hope! x

Finally, the long awaited bike stands have arrived in Preston Park. The stands are situated around the park, particularly near the children’s playground, the tennis courts and at the back of the Rose Garden. It is hoped the bike stands will further encourage park users to cycle to the park instead of driving.