News

We're looking for friends to help us tidy the bandstand and surrounding park areas on Saturday 3rd June from 10am until noon.

The Friends of Ruskin Park want to see the Stable Block in Ruskin Park bought park into use, to benefit the local community. The Stable Block if derelict and needs substantial investment to make it fit for use.

The Friends of Ruskin Park are looking for an enthusiastic and capable freelancer to work with us for approximately 40 days over the next six months.

The Friends of Ruskin Park asked some questions, hear what a cross section of Ruskin Park users think as they express their opinions on camera.

The Friends of Ruskin Park are looking for a volunteer to be the “responsible person” for the paddling pool. We are looking for someone to commit for at least 3 years from summer 2017.

The Friends of Ruskin Park are looking for volunteers to act as stewards for concerts on the bandstand. There is a main volunteer co-ordinator who may or may not be at each concert. This is an opportunity to have a very rewarding experience contributing to a community event.

The Friends of Ruskin Park are looking for a volunteer to organise the summer concerts on Ruskin Park bandstand and to help as required with anything else bandstand-related during the year. We are looking for someone to commit for at least 3 years from summer 2017.

It started with a show of support - and after some home-work the pump works were checked. Then some learning, cleaning, painting, and celebrating a good job well done! The pool was extremely well used, a really great end result.

Dr Iain Boulton the Lambeth Officer who led the restoration project sent a summary of the project and what still needs to be done.

Without a huge amount of fuss the helicopters that used to land in Ruskin Park have started to use the new helipad on the roof of the Ruskin Wing in Kings College Hospital.

Dr Iain Boulton has led many bat walks before, and they are always brilliant.

The Friends of Ruskin Park Annual Meeting will be held this year in The Temple Bowling Club.

In 2015 our then parks manager Lara Mifsud-bonici suggested we grow wheat in Ruskin Park. The harvested crop would be milled at The Brixton Windmill. What did FoRP think of the idea?

After some years of looking very sad and neglected, with the famous wisteria long gone, the Portico is being stripped back to its original condition. Detailed specifications for restoration have been completed and an accredited restoration contractor appointed. In fact they have started work!

Friday 24th June was a great day for an early evening concert. The crowd that ranged from young families to the Freedom Pass set were all hugely entertained by John Holland and the Ruskin Park Concert Band. The event was a fundraiser for both FoRP and the Kings College Hospital helipad appeal.

Saturday June 18th 2016, from 1.00pm to 5.00pm the Friends of Ruskin Park annual Summer Fete was the place to be. As you can see it had everything a really excellent fete should have, the happy faces say it all. Want to be a part of it next year? join the friends and get the news first.

The Summer Fete is happening on Saturday 18th June.

Submit your entry to the Friends of Ruskin Park Photography Competition from Sunday 23rd May.

Come and celebrate the 10th anniversary of the bandstand re-opening.

We did it! Thank you for helping to save our paddling pool.

Trees for Cities are giving up their time to guide us as we carry out gardening tasks in the garden that was the Bowling Green.

It’s been a while since our last update but we are very pleased to report that we’ve been hard at work getting the paddling pool ready for opening.

Check out the Crowdfunder page to see how raising money to keep the paddling pool open is going, then donate!

This years Summer Fete is being organised as I write! More details to follow, for now just put the date in your diary.

Ruskin Park Photography Competition 2016

Trees for Cities, working with Lambeth on Flood Risk Alleviation planted 20 new trees around the park on Saturday. The tree planting was carried out by volunteers under supervision by Trees for Cities staff. FoRP volunteers were digging as well!

Despite local protest, Lambeth Council has decided to stop funding the paddling pool in Ruskin Park. It currently costs around £35,000 per year. We all love our pool and the Friends Committee are determined to keep it open but we need help.

Please join us at the Bandstand this Sunday the 10th December for the Salvation Army annual Carols in the Park. The event will begin at 2pm

TiCl have created an App for trails and guides and are letting Friends of Parks groups use it free!!

The 2015 concert series was a success. The pattern of 11 concerts was the same as last year (June, July and September with a break in August). The average audience was the highest ever (109).

Impact Assessment of Cuts to Services in Ruskin Park and Objections to Facilities Closures

Paddling Pool at risk of closure!

Friends of Ruskin Park Annual General Meeting

As many of you already know there is going to be less funding available from the council in the New Year and changes in the way in which Lambeth is managing local parks. The Friends of Ruskin Park want to see these changes as opportunities rather than challenges and to work together to build a great future for the park.

Trees For Cities secured funding and corporate volunteers to carry out a refurbishment to the former Bowling Green and its borders. This work took three days in August, with up to 80 volunteers from Goldman Sachs.

One of Ruskin Parks great assets is its tree collection, sometimes referred to as Lambeths' Arboretum. Trees have much to offer, they are magnificent structures, their beauty can be seasonal and perennial, they can outlast many many generations of mankind, they are symbols of solidarity, strength and constancy.

A selection of entries to the FoRP Photography Competition 2015 are now being exhibited in The Cambria pub, 40 Kemerton Rd. The exhibition looks great in this lovely pub interior, here's a quick look...

Jonathan Dean, Senior Community Engagement Coordinator for Trees for Cities, on the extreme left in this photo, writes
"conversations over the past months have flagged up the gaps appearing in the plant beds on the bowling green (and the border on either side) and the presence of weeds filling those gaps..."

King Groovy and The Hornstars with Heather Davis made big fabulous music on the bandstand this afternoon. Beautiful music on a beautiful day.

Here are some photos taken during this years FoRP Summer Fete. Do you have any great shots we could add to our gallery, perhaps of the two policeman taking part in the tug-of-war?

I finally caught up with the competition winner, Hiroko Takata, when she came to The Cambria pub to collect her work.

The London Saxaphone Choir put on a jolly fine performance this afternoon, and kept the rain at bay!

Junction Jazz provided brilliant entertainment to an audience of over 100, on what turned out to be a lovely Saturday afternoon.

Please check our Whats on section for times and prices for our summer coaching programme at the tennis courts by the playground.

We are looking for helping hands to help get all the chairs and tables in the right place. Help other stalls get set up and get us ready for a great day. If you have a spare couple of hours in the morning or for when we take down at 5pm, we'd love to hear from you.

The Committee recently decided to take steps towards putting together a serious business plan for Ruskin Park. Although we've been gearing up for some time with a view to becoming a co-operative park, working towards taking over the parks' daily management with Lambeth Council, that process has become more concrete in the last few weeks.

A competition to use photography in any way you see fit to make an image originated in Ruskin Park, on the theme Park Life.