Welcome to Alexandra Park
in North London
Alexandra Park is a delightful mixture of informal
woodland, open grassland, formal gardens and attractions such as the boating
lake, cafés and the pitch-and-putt course. It covers 196 acres around Alexandra Palace in North London.
The Friends of Alexandra Park is a voluntary group that promotes
the use of the Park, encourages the
conservation of its wildlife and protects the Park from unwanted development. Become a Friend here - buy our book "A History Of Alexandra Park" in our shop
Our normal activities include:
Park Visitor Centre in The Grove re-opens London Metropolitan Brass in The Grove Sunday 5th September from 2pm to 3:45pm  Expect old favourites and a few surprising numbers. Come and sit on the grass or bring your own fold-up chairs. The senior band will play for an hour straight later on this month on Sunday, 26th September from 2:30pm to 3:30pm. Bat Walk Monday 6th September  Using bat detectors, we will "listen" to our bats flying around the Boating Lake after sundown. Time will be given after booking via AllyparkN10@gmail.com Conservation Work Party Thursday 9th September from 10am to 12:30pm  If you don't know the location, please meet at 10am at the finger post at the junction of the Lower Path and path down to the North View Entrance. We will be removing brambles and tree saplings from this area which is haven for butterflies and other wildlife. Further date in September... Tuesday, 21st. Art in the Park Group Thursday 23rd September from 10:30am to Noon  The sessions are free, but you do need to book a place: When you have booked we will let you know where we are meeting and can inform you of any last minute changes due to the weather. Bring your own materials - you may want to draw or paint, or you may like to do some photography or sewing - whatever you fancy! Please bring what you think you will need. (Some basic materials can be provided - please enquire about this when booking if required). Bring something to sit on - a fold up chair or a mat. If you would like to book a place or find out more please email allyparkn10@gmail.com Each month we will meet in a different part of the park and notice what is happening in nature at that time of year. Katy runs an art group for children in the garden at Campsbourne School and also ran a small neighbours art group for adults in the park through the Palace View Mutual Aid group in the Autumn. She is passionate about providing opportunities for people to be creative in a no pressure way and to engage with nature, for all the benefits these bring. Litter  We need your help! We are restarting litter picking in the park. (Some volunteers never stopped.) With the hot weather coming and the lockdown easing, we need some more volunteers to help litter pick in Alexandra Park.
Anyone wishing to join the volunteer litter pickers, should please Email (AllyParkN10@gmail.com) us.Heritage in Lockdown Hero Award – Alexandra Palace’s litter picking volunteers win Extract from a statement from the Palace Alexandra Park has served as a haven for millions of people throughout the pandemic, with visitor numbers nearly double what they would be in a normal year. Unfortunately a negative side effect of this has been a huge spike in litter. Overall for the period May-December 2020, 147 tonnes of rubbish were collected in the park, an increase of 45 per cent on the same time in previous years. The role played by the volunteers in tackling this issue was outstanding. More than 100 people, young and old, helped the effort, all with the common goal to support the environment and their local park. PAST ACTIVITIES Wildflowers Walks  Among the flowers seen were common fleabane, red bartsia (a partially parasitic plant on grasses) and hedge bedstraw to name a few. She explained some of the ways to tell flowers that reside in the same family. Stephen led an overflow walk starting from the opposite end of the park with a highlight of a flax flower. His plants seen. Conservation work in the Butterfly Meadow Late August  Some tree reduction work took place to reduce shade coming from the Lower Path side took place. Art in the Park Group  A great start to this monthly group session kindly led by Katy Fatui. Nature Walk - looking tree pests and diseases  Oak processionary nests were observed just below the rose garden on the same oak as were seen knopper and common spangle galls (both caused by wasps). Fungal tar spot was obvious on the leaves of many sycamore. We took a look at two species of horse chestnut  A few large bracket fungi were seen - Southern Bracket and an Oak Bracket (top picture). In the Blandford Hall area traces of Zigzag Sawfly on elm were spotted. The last section of the walk took us across the road to see symptoms of Ash dieback and Dutch Elm disease as well an oriental chestnut gall. Conservation work in the Butterfly Meadow Early August  Family Bug Hunt August  All bugs captures were released afterwards. Conservation work in the Butterfly Meadow July  Members' Walk - History of the Racecourse Wednesday 14th July  The first race had just one runner..... We heard stories of the "character" of the racecourse meetings attracting not the highest grade of punter. One famous race commentator was especially fond of the "pan handle" course, John McCririck, and expressed his wish to have his ashes scattered on the course. The horse racing finally finished in 1970 after celebrating over 100 years of operation. The main  There is a Pathe news clip available online showing the course in action and there was even a comedy called the Galloping Major in the 1950s with large sections shot at the Alexandra Park Racecourse. The picture on the left shows the view back from the finishing straight. Butterfly Walk Saturday 10th July  
The Palace has been appealing for donations, because of their almost total loss of income caused by the pandemic, and some of those donations have paid for additional John O’Conner litter clearing staff at the weekends. Please see the Alexandra Palace site if you'd like to help with a donation. Some of the Friends normal events
Conservation Work Parties
 Talks
 Mostly taking place in the Winter and early Spring the talks focus on Nature (Butterflies, Bees, Birds etc.) with some on history and other subjects that are relevant to the Park.
We have had great talks on Bats, Trees, the New River and the old railway line that used to run up to the Palace.
Coming up when conditions allow, local resident Stuart Little will presenting elements from his film about the Park and Palace....
This will be great opportunity to see some elements of history from the early days up and until the (second) fire in 1980.
Nature Walks
 Members' Walks
 The next walk (when pandemic restrictions permit) is planned to be:
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