Join us Friday December 16th 2022 at 6:30pm for Carols in the Pavilion

After a long hiatus, Carols in the Pavilion returns! 

Please join us for music and refreshments from 6:30pm on Friday, December 16th. All are welcome.

 Sponsored by the Friends of Cottenham Park.

Founding Member and Former Chair Michael Woods Honoured with Tree and Plaque near the Pavilion

The Friends of Cottenham Park have worked with Merton Council to honour local resident Michael Woods with a tree planting and plaque in the park.

Michael was a founding member and original chair of the Friends of Cottenham Park group, and served actively for many years benefitting the park and local community. He passed away in 2021. His wife served as the secretary of the group as well. She participated in the dedication and ribbon cutting ceremony in the park on Easter Day. (shown with Jill Smith after the ribbon cutting)

The Prunus Sunset Boulevard cherry tree near the pavilion will bloom white flowers in spring and provide bright autumn colour as well.

Update: Carols in the Pavilion cancelled for 2021

We're sorry to announce that we are unable to hold the annual Carols in the Pavilion for 2021 due to the ongoing COVID transmission risk. Please disregard the previous post that you may have seen here announcing the carols.

Here's to an improved 2022 situation regarding coronavirus! 

And a thank you to the Council and IDVerde for the recent paint updates to the pavilion. It is looking great in the autumn light.

Regards,

FOCP

Annual General Meeting: Sunday 3rd October 2021--11:45 am for Noon start

The Annual General Meeting of the Friends of Cottenham Park will be held on Sunday the 3rd October. We are very pleased to be able to welcome members again, after such difficult times.

Arrive at the Pavilion around 11:45 for tea and coffee. The meeting will start at Noon.

Chairman Mike Hammond and Secretary Max Gladwyn are stepping down from their roles. We welcome new committee appointments, as well as new and returning members. 

Come along and learn about the activities of the Friends of Cottenham Park and how you can become involved in making the park the best it can be.

Welcoming new and returning members to the Friends group! Updates as of June 2021

We hope you and your families are all safe and well. It has been some time since we have communicated but it does not mean the FOCP has stopped doing its great work. 

We thought it best to not seek subscriptions for 2020, though thank you to those who kindly contacted us and donated. Your prior year subscriptions and donations have helped maintain the corner gardens of the park over the past year and plant snowdrops around the Oak Tree. Look out for them next spring! 

The FOCP also helped plant four trees donated by a resident, one for each grandchild, and we have continued to water them over the Summer. We will continue to ensure they are watered in the dry periods for the next three years and may need some community help with this. 

A former resident’s family donated a bench in memory of their mother who lived for 50 years in Cambridge Road and loved the park. We met with the family and Idverde to arrange the position of the bench, which is now located on the west side of the park. 

The FOCP also lobbied the council and Idverde to fund the preservation work of the Oak Tree. We were delighted that it received necessary pruning and the pathway was altered around the tree. 

The committee also lobbied the council about the state of the ground in the playground. You may have noticed that half of the playground was cordoned off for some time. Council worker Jonathan Turner was able to secure funding for the improvements. 

We very much hope the park was a source of some relief in the lockdown for you all and we look forward to hopefully resuming our beloved Tea in the Park and the Christmas Carols. 

If you are a returning member of the Friends: We would like to request the annual £5 subscription for 2021. Please email friendsofcottenhampark@gmail.com for payment details. And if you would like to join the group and help with the work of the Friends, please email us at the same address: friendsofcottenhampark@gmail.com. 

We are very much in need of new committee members. Our valued Secretary is retiring his services. Please come and help support the local community and the park. We meet four times a year and any amount of time you can contribute would be very much appreciated. 

See you in the park!!!

Please avoid fenced off area in children's playground

The fenced off area of the children’s playground has become unsafe, due to the ground conditions. 

We are working with the Council to potentially provide rubber matting to improve play safety. 

In the meantime, we ask that you please avoid the area, until the barrier fence and signs are removed. Please do not climb or go through the fences.

We'll post when the area is safe for use again.

 

Friends of Cottenham Park now on Instagram

The Friends of Cottenham Park are now on Instagram. 

You can follow us there at: https://www.instagram.com/cottenhampark_sw20/

Tag @cottenhampark_sw20 on your photos there!

Tea in the Park Sunday 29th April 2018

The Friends of Cottenham Park's annual Tea in the Park will be held on Sunday 29th April 2.30 - 4.30pm. 
We are looking forward to welcoming everyone's favourite attraction: Basil and Crew Petting Farm to the event once more, and we have some new community craft activities planned - for both children and adults.  Full line up will be announced very soon!  In the meantime please get in touch if you would like to volunteer to help set up, deliver leaflets, run a stall or donate a raffle prize: friendsofcottenhampark@gmail.com

The Friends of Cottenham Park

Invite you to join us for 

Christmas Carols

 

in the Pavilion

 on

 Friday 15th December 2017

 at 7 pm

Mulled Wine, Soft Drinks & Mince Pies

The hall will be decked and our musicians have a grand selection of carols ready to accompany your fine voices! 

Children as always are very welcome.

There is no entrance fee for the evening though donations in the "watering can" are most welcome to help cover costs.

Entry to the Pavilion will be via the park's lantern lit north east gate on Melbury Gardens.

We look forward to seeing you again.

Best wishes

Friends of Cottenham Park

Tea in the Park - Thank you!

We'd just like to say a huge, (and slightly belated) thank you to everyone who helped make Tea in the Park such a great success this year.  Our little annual gathering of local supporters has grown each year, even judged solely on the number of pots of animal food sold on the day (Basil and Crew wouldn't have needed to be fed for a day or two afterwards), we had a record turnout once again.

The tug of war was a riot, the honey delicious, the face paintings were masterpieces and the weather just about behaved itself, all in all helping us to raise over £500 towards our park while gaining new members.

So our thanks go to everyone who donated items, baked cakes, helped out and turned up on the day. A great community effort and well done to all!

Announcing Tea in the Park 2017

The Friends of Cottenham Park's annual Tea in the Park event will be held on Sunday 30th April 2.30 - 4.30pm.  We are delighted to confirm that the Basil and Crew petting farm will be joining us again this year and that Savills have kindly offered to sponsor the afternoon once more.  Further details to follow, though please get in touch if you would like to volunteer to help, run a stall, or donate a raffle prize: friendsofcottenhampark@gmail.com

Playground update and the Carols

You may have noticed that Merton Council have been levelling and resurfacing the lower playground over recent weeks and that the area is still fenced off while works are completed.
A synthetic safety matting called Rhino Mulch, has been laid around the various pieces of equipment in an attempt to control the mud and puddle problem which makes the area unusable over the cold, wet months of the year. (It has been observed that many local toddlers do not find the muddy puddles to be any issue at all however, and will in fact head straight there for a good bath if given half a chance.)

The Friends of Cottenham Park have been requesting that Merton address the problem for some time so we're delighted that this area is now being made safer and
more useable to families.
We'd like to express our continued thanks to Johnathan Turner and his team at
Merton for all they do - including the new slide apparatus they provided for the upper playground last year. This has been a big hit with the children who use it.

Finally, to follow up on our last post, the Christmas Carol evening in the pavilion proved a great success and was attended by over 60 people, including a good number of children.  Thanks again to our talented musicians Maggie, Henry and Philip, and to our Chairman Mike for leading the proceedings.  He is convinced that the hot mulled wine attributed to us almost getting the Twelve Days of Christmas right this year!  Here are a few of photos from the night.

     

            

Christmas Carols in the Pavilion this Friday 16th December!

We're looking forward to seeing everyone on Friday. 

The hall will be decked and we are delighted to announce that our musicians, Maggie and Henry will be accompanied by Philip Cornfield (longstanding Royal Ballet pianist) this year, on double bass!

As before, there will be a lantern lit entry to the Pavilion will be via the park's north east gate on Melbury Gardens.

Best wishes

Friends of Cottenham Park

The Friends of Cottenham Park

Invite you to join us for 

Christmas Carols

in the Pavilion

 on

 Friday 16th December 2016

 at 7pm

With Mulled Wine, Soft Drinks & Mince Pies

All welcome - including children.

There is no entrance fee for the evening though you are welcome to put a donation in the "watering can".

Date for the Diary - Christmas Carols 16th December

A quick heads up to let everyone know that our annual Christmas Carol evening will be held in the Pavilion on Friday 16th December 2017.  We know it's a busy month so please put the date in your calendar now so we can ensure a good gathering!  All welcome.

New replacement slide for the playground!

Good news! Merton Council will be funding an exciting new piece of equipment to replace the old damaged tower slide in the playground.  The old apparatus had been in use for many years and was much loved, but had fallen into disrepair resulting in the actual slide part being removed and the tower boarded up for safety reasons, earlier this year.  
The Friends had been supplied some photographs of suggested new equipment which we displayed at the Tea in The Park event in April, and invited everyone to comment and vote for their favourite piece.  The Friends and families attending overwhelmingly backed the new design - which has now begun to be installed.  We are delighted that Merton have agreed to fund both the purchase and installation of this fantastic addition to the park and we express our thanks.  We know the children can't wait to try it out!

Christmas Carols - Friday 11th December

The Friends of Cottenham Park

Invite you to join us for 

Christmas Carols

in the Pavilion

on

 Friday 11th December 2015

 at 7 pm

Mulled Wine, Soft Drinks & Mince Pies

The hall will be decked and our musicians, Maggie, Henry and Rafaella have a grand selection of carols ready to accompany your fine voices!  

Children as always are very welcome.

There is no entrance fee for the evening though you are welcome to put a donation in the "watering can" on the night to help cover costs.

Entry to the Pavilion will be via the park's lantern lit north east gate on Melbury Gardens.

We look forward to seeing and hearing from you again.

Best wishes

Friends of Cottenham Park

Christmas Carols - 11th December and gardening thanks

As your diaries are no doubt filling up with festivities already, we wanted to make sure our annual Christmas Carol event is included too.

We've had to bring the date forward slightly on previous years, but we do hope you all can join us for music, mulled wine and mince pies in the Pavilion on Friday 11th December at 7pm. We'll send you further details nearer the time.

We'd also like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who has helped us maintain the gardens in the park over the summer months.
Huge thank yous particularly to the Pane family for diligently watering the new raised bed in the Melbury corner, Robert and Susanna for watering the Cambridge Road corner garden and to Jocelyn for keeping the new shrubs alive on the west wall during the very dry weather. Jill and Jocelyn have put in many hours tending the wildlife gardens and new native hedge and their hard work is much appreciated.

We've all enjoyed the ever-changing colours the planted areas bring, from the first bulbs and blossoms of spring through to the vibrant wildflower beds which continue to thrive with cosmos - even in November.  Last month it was also encouraging to see a few apples on the four new trees The Friends had planted earlier in the year. We hope someone enjoyed eating them!

Finally, big thanks to Mo Hammond for organising the summer park opening rosta again this year.  It's quite a task to coordinate and schedule all our volunteers though it's invaluable in ensuring the park stays secure each night.

With best wishes
Friends of Cottenham Park

Tea in The Park 2015 - Sunday 19th April

Hello

This warming sunshine brings with it the announcement of The Friends of Cottenham Park's annual spring get-together and we look forward to welcoming you all:

Tea in the Park

Sunday 19th April

2.30 - 4.30 pm

in the 

Pavilion Gardens

We'll have all the favourite stalls and activities including the bottle tombola, books, homemade cakes, plants, raffle, face painting, fun and games for the kids and of course, cups of tea aplenty.

This year we are also very excited to announce the addition of Basil and Crew's mobile petting farm so there'll be opportunity for children (and grown ups!) to stroke and feed Shetland ponies, goats, sheep, ducks and chickens too.

As always, we welcome donations of bottles, jars and gifts for the tombola and any good books. (We will be in touch to confirm drop off locations, though if you can start to clear out your shelves and cupboards in the meantime)

We are also hoping to receive your usual generous and delicious offerings of baked goodies for the cake stall as well as any plants and cuttings you might have. These always sell very well and you can bring these along with you on the day.

The raffle was a big hit last year so do please let us know if you have something that would make a super prize.

Finally, we also need volunteers to help us set up in the morning, help run stalls and deliver flyers - the more the merrier! So if you can help, please get in touch.

Fingers crossed for sunshine...

Thanks and best wishes

Friends of Cottenham Park

Park Improvements - New Trees, Bulbs, Gardening and Volunteers

Dear Friends

You may have noticed that new trees have arrived in the park in recent weeks - all of which have been funded by you - The Friends of Cottenham Park. 

Trees

Apple Trees

• We now have a row of four Apple trees on the short diagonal path leading from the south east gate which will make a beautiful entrance to the park in Spring when they are in blossom. There is one of each of the following varieties: Cox's Pippin, Elstar, Egremont Russet and Howgate Wonder.

Oaks

• We also have four new oak trees (Quercus nigra and Quercus palustris Green Pillar) along the long diagonal path east of the Pavilion - one of which replaces the dead sapling opposite the playground entrance. 

Amalanchier

• There's also two new Amalanchier bushes along the west path wall - either side of the Yew trees. 

Species TBC!

And finally 

• Another young tree (unlabelled - no doubt we'll find out what it is in Spring when it comes into leaf!) planted by the tennis courts along the Melbury path.

We are really thrilled with this addition and along with the other improvements to our park, ie. the painting of the Pavilion (by Merton) and refurbishment of the playground (partly funded by a refund of an item of playground equipment), we think our park has come a long way in 2014.

Newly Painted Playground Equipment

Bulbs

We are also delighted to let you know that we have just taken delivery of a large quantity of free spring bulbs (Daffodils, Iris, Narcissi, Honey Bells, Hyacinths) which we applied for as part of the Bulbs for London Initiative. We'd like to thank the Metropolitan Public Gardens Association (www.mpga.org.uk) and Taylors Bulbs of Spalding for these and look forward to them bringing even more colour to the park in spring.

The Gardens

More ever flourishing features we've enjoyed this year are our gardens - including the two wildlife friendly corners and the Pavilion garden. As most of you know, Jill Smith has been working on these for many years and all are now looking very well established. (You will remember how bare the Pavilion garden looked before Jill began to work her magic and that the two west corners were completely barren, dog plagued areas where even grass didn't grow well). 

Sadly for us, Jill has decided to hang up her gloves to concentrate on her own garden and give her back a bit of a rest. So, we'd like to say a huge thank you to her for all the hours, ideas and expertise she has given to the park, and she should be very proud of her achievements!

Which brings us neatly on the the subject of Volunteers!

The gardens are in great shape at the moment, with bulbs and seeds recently planted for next year so we are looking for some greenfingered and/or enthusiastic people to help us maintain them.  Do you have an hour or two each month to spend weeding, pruning, removing leaves/rubbish etc?  We possibly need a team of volunteers - one of whom may wish to take a coordinating role to organise everyone. Jill has very kindly offered to do a handover to explain what she's been doing and what's coming up, and she will continue to maintain the new raised bed in the Cambridge Road Wildlife corner.

We really need a hand to get all our new bulbs in before Christmas so if you'd like to join us, please let us know as soon as possible - many hands make light work!

Thanks again for all your support.

Friends of Cottenham Park Comittee

Date for the Diary...

The Friends of Cottenham Park

Invite you to join us for 

 Christmas Carols

in the Pavilion

  

Friday 19^th December 2014

at 7.00pm

 Mulled Wine, Soft Drinks

& Mince Pies

All welcome!