The Manor House Gardens volenteers improving Lewisham Green Flag park

Manor House Gardens is a popular park featuring a library, café, play area and pond within Lewisham, serving nearby communities in Lee and Hither Green.

The park received a Green Flag Award in 2001 following a £1million grant from the Heritage Lottery to restore the gardens in 1997.

Friends of Manor House Gardens, a group of dedicated volunteers from the surrounding neighbourhoods of Lee and Hither Green, meet once every month in an effort to help maintain the park.

The group was first founded in 1994 by service users and since then a number of volunteers of all ages join monthly clean-up sessions.

On one Saturday each month the group meets to carry out tasks, with the permission of Lewisham Council, such as weeding and maintaining the flower beds, picking up litter and creating spaces to encourage wildlife.

Volunteer and Lewisham Women’s Institute member Carolyn Bosworth-Davies, said: “This is one of the most busy parks in Lewisham and its much loved.

Volenteer Carolyn Bosworth-Davies helping to clear bramble from flower beds (Image: Emily Davison)

“I back onto the park and I came with my children when they were tiny.

“The original play area was down at that end, and was a wreck, and I got involved, and led to the reopening in June 2000.

“So, it’s undergone quite a lot of changes.

“If we’re saying something really needs doing, I think it gives us more credibility that we're not just saying ‘Why aren't you doing it?’

“It’s users' mindsets have got to change.

"There are people who abuse the park and leave their litter around that are the problem, not the council.”

Alongside the regular clean-up sessions, Friends of Manor House Gardens also advocate on matters concerning the park.

The group launched a petition in July 2023 following six months of the park's fountain being broken, which volunteers say affected local wildlife and water quality of the pond.

Chair of Friends of Manor House Gardens Paul Lowndes said: “We had an ongoing problem with the fountain which failed in January this year.

“We had algae, it was foul smelling, a lot of the water fowl moved away."

Volunteers meet once a week to remove weeds and help maintain the park (Image: Emily Davison)

The petition reached 1,000 signatures and the pond fountain system was fixed in late July.

Paul also added that the wildflower meadows, which were created to encourage wildlife, have been cut back three times in recent months, despite continued efforts to flag this issue to Lewisham Council.

Paul said that more needs to be done within Lewisham Council to encourage biodiversity and to tackle climate change.

Paul said: “What we've noticed over the years with the funding cuts is that there's less and less investment going into our park, and I think across all urban parks.

“So, what we want to do is actually improve the biodiversity and improve the quality of the planting in the parks, and make them a much more bio-diverse and nature-centric place “Not just a place for kicking a football, although that's important, but just really make improvements to wildlife and nature.”

One of the areas the volunteers care for are the flowerbeds located close to the pond and the River Quaggy.

The flower beds, now flourishing with blooms and a “home for toads” according to one volunteer, were described as a once empty space that didn’t have a water supply for plants to grow and establish.

But ten years ago, volunteer Jay Sivell among others began work on the flower beds, adding plants from their own gardens to make areas to attract wildlife.

Volunteer Jay Sivell helping to tidy flower beds (Image: Emily Davison)

The project, originally founded by a former beekeeper in a bid to attract wildlife, soon became a community effort with many park users getting involved.

Jay said: “We organised a big dig, and people from all around the neighbourhood came and dug it over.

“People donated plants from their gardens, things that we knew would grow, things that would look after themselves.

“What you see now is the result of all the local efforts over the years.”

Today, the flower beds are described as a “refuge” for wildlife, which was the original aim of the project ten years earlier.

Jay said: “The bed is currently full of little toads because there's plenty of refuge for them here.”

A spokesperson for Lewisham Council said: “We were proud to learn recently that Manor House Gardens has retained its Green Flag award for another year.

"Key to this success is the long-standing relationship between the Friends of Manor House Gardens, the Council and Glendale, the principal parks contractor. The Friends make an enormous contribution to this park and we always appreciate their enthusiasm, commitment and feed-back.

"We recognise the importance of meadow areas in boosting biodiversity and are committed to promoting meadow areas wherever it is appropriate and operationally feasible - over recent years, we have significantly increased the areas that we manage in this way.

"Unfortunately, one of the meadow areas in Manor House Gardens was cut earlier in the season than it should have been and was then subsequently cut as amenity grass. This was due to operator error and we have taken steps to ensure this will not happen again.

"The fountain has been fully up and running since 6 July but this process was unfortunately delayed by supply chain issues.

"Despite many years of central government cuts to local council budgets, we have been able to identify other sources of funding to keep our award-winning parks properly financed.

"In recent years, we have invested significantly in Manor House Gardens via the Mayor’s Greening Fund, supporting proposals made by the Friends Group to provide an outdoor gym, new bins, signage and play equipment.

"Over the coming months we will also fund some new trees, an exciting woodland planting project and help with plans for a new community garden area.”