Chair's update, March 2024

Tom Walker, Chair

We are beginning to get into our rhythm again. By far and away our biggest success was our open day on 4th February. We were able - in partnership with the council - to open the chapel for its first public viewing. It is a beautiful achievement. We had over 250 people through the doors and 10 guided talks. One of the architects from Kaner Olette (which designed the restoration) popped in – Piotr Frac, the brilliant stained glass creator, was in the audience, too. Check out his notes on our website here: https://abneypark.org/restoring-abney (scroll down to "Read the documents").

We are now mobilising our wider programme of events.  It is such a game changer to have premises open for the first time since March 2020 and Covid.  

One question which comes up is this: why does the Trust need to raise funds? The short answer is that our work of bringing the park's history to life relies on generating income to cover the costs of our two staff. The recent National Lottery Heritage Fund investment has paid for all the building improvements and subsidises a programme of "activities", some of which we will deliver. But we are an independent charity and need to supplement this to continue our work. The new arrangements mean the council has a park manager and the chapel is run by the Hackney Venues team. The Trust has free use of the chapel twelve days a year, and when the cafe opens later this spring, fourteen hours a week of the new community rooms programming. We have agreed a Memorandum of Understanding which governs our relationship and this is now placed on our website. You can check it out here: https://abneypark.org/abney-park-trust 

It is good to have a clear decision from the council about dogs in Abney and draw a line under an unnecessarily adversarial few months. The requirement for dogs to be on leads will not be implemented. We look forward to working with the council and all the different groups on ways to protect the park and nature reserve that we all love, and ensuring that that is balanced with responsible dog walking.

I hope you will get to our events and support the Trust.