THE FRIENDS OF REGENT’S PARK & PRIMROSE HILL

BY MARK ELLIOTT, CHAIR

Volunteer Rangers

After the long winter, it feels good to get out into our parks and gardens again. As Chair of the Friends, I can tell you that we have been busy over the past few months and have a lot to report:

Charity status

For 30 years the Friends has been an unregistered association. Now we are a charity with registration number 1201666.

Back-office system

We have replaced our back-office system with one that will make life simpler for us all. Joining or renewing your £20 subscription will now be much easier, and you will be able to download your membership card to your phone. You can also register for our events and enrol as a volunteer.

Events

Our 2023 programme has over 70 events, including the 6th annual Bandstand festival, offering 45 free concerts (see below). Full details of all our events can be found at: www.friendsofregentspark.org/ friends-events

The Royal Parks is delighted by the number of people wanting to volunteer as part of the new rangers programme: they received 115 applications. You can see from our events and volunteering lists that almost every opportunity is open to all, even if you are not a member (we hope you will join!). Do sign up for our huge summer programme.

Regent’s Park Music Festival

The Regent’s Park has always been ‘the Entertainment Park’: in addition to the bandstands, it contains the Open Air Theatre, the Royal Academy of Music, the English Folk Dance and Song Society and the Frieze Art Fair – all of them worldclass organisations. So why not add a world-class music festival?

In 2017, after nearly 20 years of silence on the bandstand, the Regent’s Park Music Festival was born with one concert. In 2019, it was registered as a charity. Six years later, the 2023 season includes 45 concerts on two bandstands, running from 17 June to 17 September. For the first time in many years, we welcome opera back to the Nannies’ Lawn: La Bohème and The Barber of Seville.