Author: Isa Martin

 ‘An Illustrated History of Preston Park’ on Saturday 26 August at 2.30pm in St Peters, Preston Park

‘Wildflower Conservation’ with George Harris and Lindy Brooke Tweed on Saturday 9 September at 2.30pm also in St Peter’s.

Entrance free, donations to St Peter’s LightUp campaign.

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Painting in the Park

Bat Walk with Emma Keane

Halloween Parade

Wreathmaking – Saturday

Wreathmaking – Sunday

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