We are sad to announce that following the postponement of our major fundraiser, Open Garden Squares Weekend, in June, the trustees have now taken the difficult decision to cancel the event due to take place on 6 September.
Having explored every possibility and taken advice, the risks of running an event for thousands of ticket holders while the pandemic persists are just too high. Although a real disappointment, we trust you'll agree that the safety of the gardeners, our staff, members and ticket-holders, is paramount.
We were so sorry that the impact of Covid-19 required us to cancel this event. Cancellation denied us all a wonderful day's access to some of London's best closed gardens - and has left the London Gardens Trust without the income we rely on to protect and celebrate access to London's historic green spaces for all.
We love this event as much as you do, so our small dedicated team worked hard trying to plan a safe open gardens event this autumn.
Without the crucial ticket sales from OGSW, the London Gardens Trust, and our ability to protect and open more gardens for you in the future, is in real peril.
We are so grateful for your understanding and ongoing support of the Trust. We now need to try to meet a shortfall in our budget. Should you feel moved to further support our work, with a cash donation, you can do so at https://cafdonate.cafonline.org/907#!/DonationDetails (and thank you a thousand times!)
If you are one of those special ticket-holders or members of the Trust, you should have received an email from us earlier this week; if you have not heard from us, please email tickets@londongardenstrust.org to make sure you are receiving our updates.
We have also been in contact with gardens and weekend volunteers; so if you are already registered with us as a garden owner or weekend volunteer and have not heard from us, please do email us.
If you are interested in getting involved as a weekend volunteer, then please do email us at volunteers@londongardenstrust.org and we will make contact with you when we have future events we hope to run.
Please visit our website.
As a result of Covid19, in March 2020 the London Parks & Gardens Trust took the difficult decision to suspend our major fundraiser for the year – Open Garden Squares Weekend (see previous update). For existing ticket-holders, we are seeking to provide a scaled-back event to honour our commitment to them and thank them for their support in sticking with us through this very difficult time.
Our charity relies on the ticket-income from this event to fund its activities throughout the rest of the year. With the ongoing crisis, we are struggling financially but our charitable work to champion parks and gardens continues. We hope you may consider donating to us so that we can continue our charitable work. Unfortunately, we will not be selling any more tickets for this year so that we can be sure to observe necessary social distancing measures.
If you are one of those special ticket-holders or members of the Trust - you should have received an email from us earlier this week; if you have not heard from us, please email office@londongardenstrust.org to make sure you are receiving our updates.
We have also been in contact with gardens and weekend volunteers; so if you are already registered with us as a garden owner or weekend volunteer and have not heard from us, please do email us. If you are interested in getting involved as a weekend volunteer, then please do email us at volunteers@londongardenstrust.org and we will make contact with you either about this year's scaled back event or other future events we hope to run.
Please visit our web site.
We are very sad to announce that, due to the current crisis, this year's Open Garden Squares Weekend will not go ahead as planned in June. However, we are actively exploring options to stage an alternative event later in the year, as well as ideas for how to celebrate gardens remotely, so that we can do our bit to support the recovery when restrictions are lifted.
During these unprecedented times, it goes without saying that our first priority is keeping everyone in the Open Garden Squares Weekend family safe and healthy - but we remain undeterred in our mission to cultivate and celebrate London's parks and gardens.
We will continue to keep our community updated via our regular newsletter and social media channels (links below). We will be sharing images and content about the history and horticulture of the many wonderful spaces in London, whilst looking forward to the time when we can all visit them again soon. Do please join us and share your thoughts and photographs, as we share the joy of gardens and open spaces on line.
If you have already bought a ticket for this year's OGSW event, you should have received a personal email from us already. (Please contact tickets@londongardenstrust.org if you have not received this communication.)