Please join us for our most important annual meeting.

This is a public meeting, open to all. We will be presenting a summary of the year and some exciting plans for the future, as well as electing officers to the Committee.

If you are interested in attending, or becoming more involved with the running of the Friends as a member of the committee, please drop us a note.

Join us for a public design day to map out plans for our new Coronation Orchard.

Help design layouts, choose what trees to plant and find out how to get involved as an orchard keeper to help bring fresh local fruit to Blythe Hill Fields.

We’re still finalising the date and details with The Orchard Project, so watch this space for more info. Or to keep in touch and be part of the conversation, join our Biodiversity WhatsApp group via the Get involved page.

Join us at Catford Mews for a special screening followed by a Q&A of ground-breaking documentary Six Inches of Soil. The screening and after=party will celebrate the fantastic volunteers behind this year’s Blythe Hill Festival, probably our greenest Festival ever!

Head to the foyer after the screening for a Q&A with the filmmakers, followed by drinks and chat to say thank you to volunteers.

You can book in advance but Catford Mews is also planning to release some discounted tickets for volunteers. Please check back for details.

This year’s Festival promises to be the best ever with a refreshed ‘greener’ format and more focus on community involvement.

It’s a fabulous event for the whole family that brings the whole community together. 
Find out more!

Friends Committee Meeting

The Friends Committee holds two meetings a year, in May and November. Committee members provide updates and map out plans for future activities.

This is an open meeting - everyone with an interest in the Friends as well as Blythe Hill Fields is welcome to attend.

Venue - tbc.

Join us for some biodiversity volunteering in the park on Thursday 23 May from 11am to 2pm, hosted by ecology expert Emily Milhouse, together with the skilled volunteers from Nature’s Gym.

The sessions will be a great chance to learn new skills and connect with the wider biodiversity community in the borough. We’ll be doing a range of tasks from tree care to creating a hibernaculum.

Meet up at the Blythe Hill Lane entrance at 11am.

Join us for some biodiversity volunteering in the park on Saturday 20 April from 11am to 2pm, hosted by ecology expert Emily Milhouse, together with the skilled volunteers from Nature’s Gym.

The sessions will be a great chance to learn new skills and connect with the wider biodiversity community in the borough. We’ll be doing a range of tasks from tree care to creating a hibernaculum.

Meet up at the Blythe Hill Lane entrance at 11am.

Good news on Tiny Forest! The contractors have checked the site and say the water has subsided enough that they can finish making things ready for a new planting day next Thursday 18 April.

So join us from 2pm and bring your friends to plant young 600 trees and shrubs as the foundation for our new Tiny Forest.

Local schools will be involved through the morning as EarthWatch shares the wonders of forests and inspires the next generation to care for nature and become Citizen Scientists.

Please help EarthWatch manage number on the day, by registering your interest below:

More about the project

Our Tiny Forest will be located towards the Western edge of the park near Brockley View and will include some benches for anyone to sit and enjoy or to serve as an outdoor classroom.

Tiny Forests are small patches of intensive woodland, with around 600 trees and shrubs being planted into as space the size of a tennis court. So there’s going to be a lot to do on the day!

Based on the Miyawaki Method - a planting approach developed by Japanese botanist Akira Miyawaki - Tiny Forests can reach maturity three to five times faster than normal forests. This is due to intense competition among carefully selected native plants, which are chosen to reflect the different canopy layers of a natural forest.

Tiny Forests provide habitat, boost biodiversity, capture carbon, support urban cooling and help to mitigate flooding, providing an all-round benefit to local communities.

EarthWatch is also committed to supporting community involvement and citizen science, so there will be many opportunities to get involved in tree care, monitoring and becoming an official Tree Keeper for our Tiny Forest.

You can learn more about Tiny Forests and get involved on EarthWatch’s Tiny Forest website.

Blythe Hill Fields has been selected as one of the few parks in Lewisham to have a new Tiny Forest installed this year.

So get involved and join us for an active afternoon of planting trees!

If you are interested in being part of this year’s event or are just volunteer-curious come along and say hi - we have a table booked in the name of Dani.

Learn more about the mighty power of Tiny Forests at a public open meeting with the Friends and EarthWatch Europe, ahead of the anticipated planting day in March.

Tiny Forests are small patches of intensive woodland, with around 600 trees and shrubs being planted into as space the size of a tennis court.

Based on the Miyawaki Method - a planting approach developed by Japanese botanist Akira Miyawaki - Tiny Forests reach maturity three to five times faster than normal forests due to intense competition among carefully selected native plants, which are chosen to reflect the different canopy layers of a natural forest. Tiny Forests provide habitat, boost biodiversity, capture carbon, support urban cooling and help to mitigate flooding, providing an all-round benefit to local communities.

EarthWatch is also committed to supporting community involvement and citizen science, so there will be many opportunities to get involved in tree care, monitoring and becoming an official Tree Keeper for our Tiny Forest.

Blythe Hill Fields has been selected as one of the few parks in Lewisham to have a new Tiny Forest installed this year and, although the date isn’t yet confirmed, we’re anticipating a planting day of either Friday 8 or Friday 15 March.

Join us for a fascinating discussion about how Tiny Forests work and how you can get involved.

Please note the change of venue - this event will now be held upstairs at The Chandos.

This is a key meeting for everyone who wants to be involved in running the Festival this year.

We love the Festival and want it to keep improving, so we'll be looking at options for updating the format in ways that will keep it sustainable, while allowing a greater emphasis on values of community involvement and environmental sustainability.

At the meeting we’ll be identifying tasks, assiging key roles and responsibilities and mapping out the critical path for delivery of Festival 2024, with an anticipated date of Sunday 7 July.

Get some fresh air and join us for an easy-going morning of tree care, starting at 10am.

We’ve planted all the whips, so now we want to focus on any trees planted in previous years which may need some TLC. We’ll be weeding, mulching, pruning and fixing stakes and cages.

While you can always borrow kit for the morning, please help out if you have any of the following and bring them along:

• Wheelbarrows

• Spades

• Pliers

• Mallets and hammers

• Secateurs and loppers

• Strong scissors

• Gardening gloves

We’ll meet at the mulch pile by the playground at 10am.

Look forward to seeing you there!

Get some fresh air and join us for an easy-going morning of tree care, starting at 10am.

Alongside some much needed care for trees previously planted - think weeding, mulching and pruning – we also have have nine new blight resistant Elm tree whips ready to go in the ground.

Following on from their generous donation trees, shrubs and meadow seeds last year, Butterfly Conservation followed up with a new batch of Elm tree whips. We have nine trees in three different varieties – Lutece, White and Ademuz elms - which should help increase resilience and cushion against any future shocks.

We have a single specimen of Ademuz elm, which is a clone of disease-resistant European Small-leaved Lime (Ulmus Minor). This is found in Spain and has similarities with our own native species. It will be interesting to see how these all fair, so we’ll meed to make a note of which trees get planted where!

We’ll also be checking on the trees shrubs and meadows planted previously, re-mulching or mending the rope fences as needed.

While you can always borrow kit for the morning, please help out if you have any of the following and bring them along:

• Wheelbarrows

• Spades

• Pliers

• Mallets and hammers

• Secateurs and loppers

• Strong scissors

• Gardening gloves

• Hedge shears or battery powered strimmers.

We’ll meet at the mulch pile by the playground at 10am.

Look forward to seeing you there!

Beat the January blues and come and meet your local community.

If you’re curious about the Friends and are thinking about getting involved, come and join us for a drink. This casual social event is an easy way to share your interests and meet some of the key people behind the Blythe Hill Festival, our Biodiversity work and other diverse projects, to see if it’s right for you.

This year we’re urgently seeking a new Head of Festival. If you think that could be you, please do reach out for a chat. We’d be very happy to hear from you!

Evening 2 of 2. Please note this date is tbc.

Beat the January blues and come and meet your local community.

If you’re curious about the Friends and are thinking about getting involved, come and join us for a drink. This casual social event is an easy way to share your interests and meet some of the key people behind the Blythe Hill Festival, our Biodiversity work and other diverse projects, to see if it’s right for you.

This year we’re urgently seeking a new Head of Festival. If you think that could be you, please do reach out for a chat. We’d be very happy to hear from you!

Evening 1 of 2. Please note this date is tbc.

We’ll be holding the Friends’ Annual General Meeting on Tuesday 21 November at 8pm, upstairs at the Blythe Hill Tavern.

On the agenda will be a review of the year, plans for next year, appointing new officers and appointing new Friends to the committee.

We’re always on the lookout for new people volunteers. Currently we’re hoping to find a new Head of Festival, a new Festival Co-ordinator and several other exciting volunteer roles.

If you’re interested in being a part of this friendly local community group, please drop us a note. We’ll be happy to answer any questions and have a chat about what’s involved.

An informal group meeting to talk about plans for Biodiversity improvements in the fields, as well as making plans for our upcoming seed-foraging and meadow planting events.

We’ll meet at the Blythe Hill Tavern - outside, if the weather is good.

Learn how to identify common butterfly species found in London’s greenspaces and how to record them on this guided walk with a project officer from Butterfly Conservation.

Places are limited, so be sure to book asap!

Calling all festival volunteers!

Please join us on Thursday at 8pm at the Blythe Hill Tavern for a post-festival wash-up meeting and thank you drinks.

We’ll be holding a short committee meeting with updates on progress from key Subcommittees, followed by a Festival debrief and drinks and thanks for Festival volunteers at 8pm.

You can see the draft agenda here.

Our annual community festival, run entirely by local volunteers. Visit the Festival 2023 page for more detail.

Quarterly meeting for committee members to elect new members, plan the 2022 festival and discuss park improvements.