Chair's update, August 2024

Tom Walker, Chair

July was the moment we have been waiting for four years for, if not since the late 1970s when the cemetery company went bankrupt, as the Mayor formally reopened Abney Park with a collective community event.

It was brilliant for the Trust to play the supporting role in all the arrangements and I got to cut my first ever ribbon with the Mayor.  It was a fantastic community effort with the council, the Trust, the cafe, the architects Kaner Olette, Abney Unearthed, the woodworkers, the new workshops and the new Users Group all celebrating the completion of the work and the new facilities.  We have created a real community hub.

Special thanks to the actors and actresses from near neighbour Tower Theatre for their part in bringing some of the Abney stories to life.  They made Abney a time machine for a morning.

That event was a big focus for Abney Park Trust and Hackney Council. We now drive on with our brilliant programme of events from drop in workshops to another whole site community event for Open House Festival in September.  Details of these are below.  Please share these or come along yourself.  Or get in touch if you have ideas.

As well as our events we play an important role maintaining the Commonwealth War Graves in the park.   We keep them clean and maintained to honour 150 headstones across Abney.  We hosted their regional team last month and it is the hidden work that our staff and volunteers is one of the most important things we do in preserving the cemetery's status as a place of rest for 200,000 people.

The hot weather makes this the perfect time to visit. Abney is always a cool and shady break from urban heat, and the cafe has a new freezer full of ice creams adjacent to Abney Park's display of self guided tours, art materials and books for all ages.  These have been chosen to support nature connection and engagement with Abney's heritage.