1. Storytelling with Diana Oluntunmogun2. Opening speeches3. World Garden Exhibition opening 20 June 20264. Gardeners’ Question Time5. Wishes for the World Garden
20/21 June 2026
Storytelling with Diana Oluntunmogun
Opening speeches for London Climate and Nature Action Week Susan Crisp Friends of Burgess Park Chair pictured; Southwark Council Executive Member for Council Coordination and Climate Councillor Eloise Waldon-Day was also one of the speakers
World Garden 30 years opening exhibition: Faraday Ward Councillors Felicia Johnston and Sasjkia Otto opened the photo exhibition with Friends of Burgess Park celebration coordinators Susan Crisp and Claire Sharpe and with the exhibition curators Georgia Salmond and Pip Hudd
Gardeners’ Question Time: (r too l) Ciaran Hawkins, Head Gardener; Fabrice Boltho, Burgess Park Community Plant Nursery; Jenny Morgan, Friends of Burgess Park and Southwark Nature Action Volunteers; Sam Tilling, Friends of Burgess Park, compère
Wishes for the World Garden
7891011121314
6-13. Art in the Park older drawing group designs in watercolour on paper and plaster inspired by Islamic geometric patterns and the World Garden pool mosaic including workshops.
151617
14-17 Tara’s Travel the World Garden botanical postcard design and potato print stamp workshop.
181920
18. Mosaic design 19. Burgess Sports After School Club designs inspired by Islamic geometric patterns and the World Garden pool mosaic.
212223242526272829
21-29. Two day community sewing and tassel making World Garden bunting workshop.
303132
30. World music: Richard Llewelyn-Davies 31. World music: Mario Christofi (oud) and Leah Saltoun (recorder) 32. Feedback on the 30 Years World Garden Celebration
Come along and help Friends of Burgess Park celebrate 30 years of the World Garden at Chumleigh Gardens, Burgess Park with activities over two afternoons on Saturday 20 and Sunday 21 June 2026.
Finding the World Garden and facilities
Address: The World Garden is at Chumleigh Gardens, Burgess Park off Albany Road, Southwark SE5 0RJ. What Three Words location: https://w3w.co/vibes.socket.work
Travel: Buses along Albany Road: No. 42, 343, 136, bike locking points and a small amount of car parking. Or buses along Old Kent Road and Walworth Road and walk through the park 10-15 minutes.
Disabled access: The World Garden is disabled access and the exhibition spaces have ramped access.
On Saturday take part in family friendly events, listen to jazz and world music in the garden and enjoy the photography exhibition about the history of the World Garden and find out more about the different plants and their cultural importance to Southwark’s diverse communities. We are joining forces with London Climate and Nature Action Week and community groups to focus on the impact of climate change on nature and the gardens of yesterday and tomorrow.
Saturday 20 June
12.00World Garden photography exhibition opens to 5.00
12.00Burgess Park Community Plant Nursery to 5.00
Find out more about the community nursery and take a tour of the poly tunnels, where volunteers work alongside horticultural experts to produce thousands of free seedlings for Community Gardens all over Southwark. Their most recent give away focussed on a range of warm-season and culturally significant crops. Come along and meet the volunteers to learn what’s possible to grow in London, and share knowledge and experiences from different food cultures.
Southwark Council Executive Member for Council Coordination and Climate Cllr Eloise Waldon-Day will be speaking.
1.45 Faraday Ward Councillors Otto and Johnston will formally open the photo exhibition
2.00Mulberry Moments jazz band to 4.00
To celebrate the wonderful new avenue of mulberry trees in Burgess Park, we’re hosting a free afternoon of music from JazzLive.
Join friends and neighbours to enjoy music from the JazzLive at the Crypt community: Winston Skerritt (bass) and Belinda Braggins (keys) are joined by guitarist Maurice Brown for two sets of original music. Expect jazz, folk and world influences, relaxed grooves and strong melodies.
Thanks to sponsorship from Camberwell TFC, the Turkish Food Centre we will be adding to the musical festivities with some appropriately themed treats of scones with Turkish mulberry jam, and lemonade to round off the afternoon. Come and find us at the Camberwell Society stall.
2.00 Garden Talks and Walks – Gardeners Questions about the World Garden and climate change to 3.00 with: Ciaran Hawkins, Head Gardener; Jenny Morgan, Friends of Burgess Park and Southwark Nature Action Volunteers; Fabrice Boltho, Burgess Park Community Plant Nursery
3.00Family art for all, during the afternoon
3.00 Community art project drop-in – Saturday and Sunday
Help make the World Garden bunting
As a community we will be creating a large wall hanging with bunting for the garden which will remain up over the summer. Come and add your stitches, knots, and favourite fabric to create a colourful World Garden sign
4.00Mosaic design patterns drop-in to 5.30 pm
The Islamic garden pond had a tiled mosaic design which due to repair is no longer visible. Design your own geometric and repeat pattern mosaic designs. All materials supplied.
Local groups: 1st Place Nursery, Burgess Sports and Art in the Park are exhibiting mosaic inspired work they have created.
4.00Storytellingwith Diana Oluntunmogun, performing Anansi stories including one regarding a grandmother and her garden.
4.30Jeanette Murphy singer / songwriter acoustic guitar to 5.30
5.00World Garden photography exhibition closes for the day
On Sunday come along to enjoy talks, walks and help identify all the plants in the World Garden as we also celebrate the summer solstice.
Sunday 21 June
2.00World Garden photography exhibition to 6.00
2.30World Music: solo acoustic spots around the garden to 7.30pm
It is World Music Day on Sunday 21st June, named Make Music Day in the UK, so we will have music from different cultures to reflect the World Garden. Solo acoustic music will be in pop-up spots throughout the garden including South Asian sitar, Colombian “Chirimía” style on conga drums and clarinet, Hindustani ragas accompanied on the swarmandal (Indian harp) and tanpura (drone), Middle Eastern and Mediterranean on the recorder and oud and Yiddish, English folk songs and guitar.
2.30pm Crooks and Nannies (Jimbino Vegan, Marcus Decker & Anya Markyov)– our regular group from Stomping Grounds cafe kick off the afternoon with a mixture of tunes and songs from around the world
3.00Family art for all, during the afternoon
Mosaic design patterns drop-in
The Islamic garden pond had a tiled mosaic design which due to repair is no longer visible. Design your own geometric and repeat pattern mosaic designs. All materials supplied.
Local groups: 1st Place Nursery, Burgess Sports and Art in the Park are exhibiting mosaic inspired work they have created.
3.00 Garden Talks and WalkswithAilien Rhijnsburger will talk about plant use including healing, dying and culinary
3.30pm World Music Josiah Stovell (sitar)– performing ragas in the South Asian style. Improvisations based on a set mode, played in the idiom of 18th Century North India, a style which remains highly influential
4.30pm World Music Leah Saltoun (recorder) and Mario Christofi (oud) – exploring the musical traditions of the Middle East and Mediterranean through collaboration, improvisation and cross-cultural performance
4:30 Garden Talks and Walks with Mima Taylor who will conduct a plant ID tour where plants in the world garden are matched to our historic list ! A fun lesson on plant IDing. The history of the plants will be explored with detective work on why they have been planted. Bring a pen, a pad and a phone if you have one !!! A short lesson on identifying and mapping plants.
5.00 Storytelling with Selena Kelly, taking a journey back through the ages to a time when the ancient gods of Greece and their worshipers spun legends and secrets and wonder.
5.30pm World Music Budhaditya Bhattacharyya (voice/Indian harp & drone) – Indian classical vocalist presents a vocal set incorporating seasonal Hindustani ragas (spring and monsoon) self accompanied on the swarmandal
6.00 World Garden photography exhibition closes
6.30pm World Music Gonzalo (clarinet) and Gustavo (congas) – Chirimía Band – a traditional Colombian acoustic ensemble playing music reflecting the richness, diversity, and vibrant spirit of Colombia’s musical traditions.
7.30pm World Music Richard Llewelyn-Davies: (voice/guitar) – a local folk musician playing a mix of original and traditional music from the British Isles.
Music finishes
Connecting communities and cultures through the World Garden
The walled garden is a quiet oasis with plants from every continent, and a treasured space, yet it remains unknown to many people. We want to celebrate the beautiful garden, the unique planting and invite more people to enjoy this special place.
The weekend celebration will help to promote the garden to more Southwark communities and connect them with the plants in the World Garden that are meaningful in their culture and heritage.
We know that people visit to remind them of ‘home’. We are seeking community contributions for the exhibition and events:
memories or photographs of the garden
names and uses of the plants by different communities
cultural importance of the different plants
music from around the world
The World Garden is a special place. If you have photos or memories of the garden, if a plant has a special meaning for you, we would like to include this in the exhibition. Please get in touch.
Many thanks to those who have supported this event.
This event is funded by Southwark Council’s Cultural Celebrations Fund, and Friends of Burgess Park with support from:
SE5 Forum and Camberwell Society for Mulberry Moments (jazz band and refreshments) London Climate Action Week Gardeners’ Question Time speakers and the Walk and Talk speakers Burgess Park Community Plant Nursery Latin Age UK (art session Sunday) Burgess Sports (loan of chairs/tables) 1st Place (First Aid support) All FOBP volunteers and stewards on the day Community Salay and Ballet Cultural Bolivia (Sat) Community Stalls: Fight4Aylesbury ❧ Local Action Families ❧ Community Salay ❧ Southwark Nature Action Volunteers (SNAV) ❧ Veolia
Read about the history of Chumleigh Gardens on our history website Bridge to Nowhere. The Chumleigh buildings originally provided homes for poor women. They were opened in 1823 by The Female Friendly Society. The gardens were established in 1995.
Safe cycling routes AROUND Burgess Park – FOBP is calling for (i) safe cycle routes around Burgess Park – the Burgess Park orbital route – (ii) better signage that park routes are shared pedestrian/cyclists. Read more about FOBP activity on cycling.
Metropolitan Open Land (MOL)- Southampton Way – FOBP is campaigning with other local groups for the designated MOL land to be incorporated into Burgess Park. It is important that there is commitment to: this land remaining as MOL and being restored as green space and a local vision for this to happen. Read more about the MOL land.
FOBP is restoring the small islands on the lake. We are replacing the buoyancy and replanting. The islands will help with oxygenation of the water and be a refuge for lake waterfowl.
In November 2025 one of the small islands was returned to the lake. The new buoyancy is the foam filled pipes around the island, replaced coir mat and new plants. The plants will dieback in the winter but regrow in the spring, protected by the wire cages.
Island base new pipe surroundPipes back to the lakeIsland reassembled and floating
We will monitor the island over the winter. We have another island to restore with new buoyancy which will be returned to the lake in spring 2026.
Cutting the plastic pipesPolyurethane foam for buoyancyFoam expands to fill the pipe
Update: Following the survey mentioned below, Southwark Council did not find there was clear support for adding more hotplates. No decision has been taken.
Southwark Council are proposing to increase the number of hot plates in Burgess Park. There is a survey now available for you to complete where you can indicate whether you do not want any more hot plates or whether they should be increased in number. You can also add comments to indicate how you use the area now without hot plates.
Friends of Burgess Park do not support expanding the hot plates area. There is no evidence of need for this expansion, the pilot period was too limited as the followup report (link below) points out. There were only 49 responses recorded to find out whether there was a demand for more hot plates. The key problems like lack of toilets, drinking water, and year-round use remain unresolved, even for the initial three.
Expansion would mean losing more green space, adding more litter and intrusive street furniture, extra work for park staff, and disruption to existing activities and the Burgess Park Masterplan. We believe hot plates should be located in developments with proper facilities, not in the park.
Representatives of the Friends of Burgess Park met the hot plates project officer in Burgess Park to ask some questions and get more information.
The hot plates working group now includes Southwark Council officers and Faraday ward councillors only. No meetings are scheduled although the previous meeting notes said there would be meetings every 3 months. Latin Elephant and Pembroke House were involved although they are not now. They will be kept informed and they will be sent the questionnaire about further hot plate provision in Burgess Park. Friends of Burgess Park also received notification of the questionnaire and we asked that groups around the park should also be informed such as TRAs.
There seemed to be an automatic assumption of the need for more hot plates but there was a tiny response to the questionnaire about the pilot (49 responses). However, there was a lot of support from the working group. Based on this and a [very short] trial period, an extension proposal was put to the Cabinet and approved. A fund of £250,000 was secured for this development.
FOBP pointed out that Burgess Park needs many improvements and this money should be spent where it is desperately needed. There is no proof of the demand. There is no booking system as was originally planned, so the pilot doesn’t provide evidence of the number of users and the need for more provision.
The problems with a cooking area in the park which occurred with the original barbecues and still applies, is the very limited provision of toilets and drinking water. The proposal to increase the number of hot plates does nothing to improve this situation. There is no extra provision of toilets or drinking water. Instead there is a sign to the toilet and drinking fountain at Chumleigh Gardens.
To deal with extra litter the working group is proposing more bins. FOBP pointed out that bins already litter the area. More and brightly painted bins suggested by the working group will detract from the area even further.
At our meeting in the current hot plates area, metal spangles and bottle tops littered the area. This will only increase and extend further into the park.
The working group suggested 22 signs which will be more intrusive street furniture detracting from the green space.
FOBP asked is there extra money for extra staff to clean up? Currently, this job has been added to what the gardeners have to do. The project officer is yet to reply on this issue.
FOBP pointed out that this work is being added to the gardeners’ jobs at the expense of caring for the rest of the park. This is completely unacceptable.
In the feedback reports, the gardening team provided a record of man hours it takes to clean the hot plates including collecting and removing the oil and disposing of it commercially. This is a cost they have to cover at £150 each time.
The new layouts being proposed with increased hot plates will extend much further into the park. FOBP pointed out that they will impede the way it is currently being used. These hot plates are not in use all year nor 24 hrs/day so the space is being modified for very limited use.
Community groups already use this area on the weekends. Games are being played in this area at other times. The static hot plates, picnic tables and the increased asphalt will prevent this current use. This will affect many more park users who do not require hot plates.
It will be closer to the Old Library and will affect how that is developed and used.
This is an area next to 1st Place Nursery outdoor spaces and Chumleigh Gardens. The smell of cooking (particularly meat for non-meat eaters) will spoil the enjoyment of playtime and the pleasure of the flora and fauna and the tranquility in Chumleigh Gardens.
The project officer added a question to the survey to ask how people are currently using the area.
Reducing foliage is being proposed and has begun. FOBP believe this is because people use the bushes as toilet areas. Unfortunately, increasing the number of hot plates will only remove more plants and green space from the park and increase hard standing which is not the climate considerate option. ID Verde work to a strict contract to maintain certain areas. Will there be extra funding to maintain these areas? No reply yet from the project officer.
Other suggestions from FOBP:
Could hot plates be added to local developments where people can take responsibility for their own spaces?
Hot plates could be added to the Giraffe House development where there will be more toilets and clean water on offer and asphalted areas are already in place.
There is a Masterplan for Burgess Park. Changes to this should be fully considered before being introduced and damaging the vision. The hot plates extension is not part of the plan and if executed will be detrimental to the park and its users.
Read the ecology report written for Southwark Council about the hot plates area in Burgess Park.
Read the Southwark Council working group report about the 3 hot plates trial in Burgess Park.
10 years after his last visit (see: The Making of a Modern Park event – how was it? | Bridge to Nowhere), former Park Manager Dave Sadler MBE – came to visit the park, welcomed by members of Friends of Burgess Park plus the current Park Manager, Dominic Leary and Head Gardener, Ciaran Hawkins.
Former park manager Dave Sadler with Dominic Leary, Burgess Park manager
With an association dating back to the 1950s, Dave was instrumental in making the park what it is today. Happily, Dave is still fit and active at 90, so he took a stroll around Chumleigh Gardens then the World Gardens where Dave pointed out just a few of the many trees he had planted. Then onto a cuppa at the cafe, where he shared some incredible stories – which in the early days were less about gardening than calling in the army to clear unexploded bombs! When the lake first opened, the Park’s team used to break up the ice every winter to stop ice skaters, who would have fallen in! The visit finished with a buggy trip around the lake courtesy of Ciaran. All in all, a wonderful day full of memories.
Dave Sadler with Ciaran Hawkins, Burgess Park Head Gardener
Dave described the park to Hunter Davies, author of books about London parks, in 1982: “It’s either a good thing, or it wasn’t worth doing in the first place. You have to keep remembering it IS a good thing.” How right he turned out to be!
Thanks to Dave Clark and the other Burgess Park bird recorders for this important and fascinating information.
We now have four years of year-long data for the birds in Burgess Park displayed in the table below.
YEAR
No. of BIRD SPECIES
No. of OBSERVERS
DAYS RECORDED
2021
89
23
184
2022
64
23
107
2023
65
26
146
2024
65
16
91
Notably, the number of species seen in the park is remarkably consistent for the last three years but alas, does not approach the bumper year of 2021. This is probably due to observer effort and the increased leisure time which was experienced during that period of post-covid, rather than a loss of species breeding or visiting the park.
The lake continues to attract interesting avian visitors with recent sightings of Goosander, Wigeon and Lapwing, whilst across the period shown above, rarities such as Caspian Gull, White-fronted goose and Goldeneye have also been recorded. There are regular sightings of rarer ducks, supplemented by Cormorants and Grebes and over the years seven species of Gulls have been recorded: Black-headed, Lesser and Great Black-backed, Herring, Caspian, Common and Mediterranean alongside Common Tern.
Sedge Warbler. Photo by Andy Vernon, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
Amongst the interesting passerines (songbirds) which are generally attracted to the rougher scrubby areas, proximate to the Bridge to Nowhere and behind the school we have seen this year Stonechat, Sedge Warbler, Common Redstart, Yellow Wagtail and Sand Martin amongst the usual African migrants of Reed and Willow Warbler, House Martin and Swift. Sightings of a Hobby was a particular highpoint, a West African bird of prey arriving in Britain in the spring. This bird may have been one of the pair that attempted to breed in the north of the borough.
Cuckoo (Cuculus canorus). Photo by Ron Knight from Seaford, East Sussex, United Kingdom. CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
In the proximate previous years West and Central African migrants have included Cuckoo, Garden Warbler, Lesser Whitethroat, Pied and Spotted Flycatcher, Wheatear, Meadow and Tree Pipit; whilst regular migrant breeders are Reed Warbler, Whitethroat, Blackcap and Chiffchaff. Birds of prey, are regularly spotted with local Peregrines, Sparrowhawks and Kestrels supplemented by occasional sightings of Buzzard and Red Kite.
The success of some of our more common birds should also be noted with Burgess being one of the few green spots within Southwark that experiences good numbers of House Sparrow and Starling, both unfortunately designated as Red-listed species; i.e.species of high conservation concern.
All known records have been sent to GiGL (Greenspace information for Greater London), BTO (British Trust for Ornithology) and Ebird. Ebird is the easiest way to follow which birds have been seen in the park, check out: https://ebird.org/hotspots (put Burgess Park in the search box).
It would be great if we had more people involved in recording our avian sightings within the park, our knowledge of the continuing erosion of biodiversity is dependent on enthusiastic amateurs using the various Citizen Science platforms that are now available. If you want to get involved, Ebird is again the go-to website whilst closer to home London Birders has a daily wiki-feed; if you have any questions please do not hesitate to contact the writer at dave@mailbox.co.uk.
FOBP AGM Tues 28 October 2025 6.30-8.30pm at 1st Place nursery, Chumleigh Gardens, with refreshments from 6.00pm. Or online Zoom.
Come to the Friends of Burgess Park AGM!
Hear from our guest speakers Dominic Leary new Parks Officer and Ciaran Hawkins the new Head Gardener. Both joined Burgess Park in 2025. They will update on new park projects for 2026 and answer your questions.
AGM – FOBP committee election – We need new committee members – Support your local park an important inner city green space, vital for local people and nature.
As a committee member you will help to run the organisation; our aims are to protect, promote and enhance Burgess Park. We do this by speaking-up on behalf of the park, promoting the wildlife and nature, and organising practical park based activities.
Projects to get involved in:
Developing a biodiversity plan for Burgess Park
Organising quarterly walk abouts with the Parks team
Helping to run community litterpics
Opportunities for nature volunteering and using plants in crafts sessions
Woodlands activity with LWT
Parks projects including Chumleigh Gardens pond mosaic
Everyone is more than welcome! FOBP is a community group open to park users, local residents,volunteers, local groups and reps from TRAs and other organisations with an interest in Burgess Park. Please come along!
Join us at 1st Place nursery, Chumleigh Gardens on Tuesday 28 October 2025 from 6pm for a 6:30pm start until 8:30pm. Read more about the annual reports and changes to the constitution.
There is step free access to 1st Place nursery and children’s centre. There are accessible toilets. We will be serving non-alcoholic drinks and snacks.
Join our woodlands maintenance session Sat 27 Jan 11.00 to 3.30 we will be clearing brambles and coppicing to enhance the woodland glade in the Albany Road woodlands. Please book here.
This volunteer woodlands maintenance is the first phase of the works to open-up the woodland glades by coppicing and bramble removal. Southwark Council will organise this volunteer work session.
The second phase will be run by Big City Butterfly Project, who will employ a contractor to; de-turf, remove roots and sow the area with a meadow mix within the glade which we will create.
This is part of the Friends of Burgess Park healthy woodlands project. We have also been awarded funding from the Southwark Council Cleaner Greener Safer fund for a new pathway. Find out more about Burgess Park woodlands.
