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

Facilities: toilets, disabled toilet, Stomping Ground cafe, playgrounds. 

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 

12.00 World Garden photography exhibition opens to 5.00

12.00 Burgess 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.

12.30 London Climate Action Week opening event 

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

2.00 Mulberry 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.

Bring your own picnic or drop into the Stomping Grounds Café on-site.

Kindly supported by the SE5 Forum and the Camberwell Society with support from the Nunhead Gardener.

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.

Reserve a seat or picnic spot on Eventbrite, or sit nearby, there’s plenty of space or listen as you stroll around the World Garden.

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

3.00 Family art for all, during the afternoon 

3.00 Community art project drop-in – Saturday and Sunday

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 

4.00 Mosaic 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. 

4.00 Storytelling with Diana Oluntunmogun, performing Anansi stories including one regarding a grandmother and her garden.

4.30 Jeanette Murphy singer / songwriter acoustic guitar to 5.30

5.00 World Garden photography exhibition closes for the day

See photographs taken at the Saturday event.

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 

2.00 World Garden photography exhibition to 6.00

2.30 World 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

3.00 Family 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 Walks with Ailien 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.

And/or if you would like to help with the event, organising or on the day, please get in touch. Read more about the Stewards role.

Contact us by email friendsofburgesspark@gmail.com

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.