News and Upcoming Events

A massive thank you to Doug Shaw for guiding about 20 park users this morning on a nature walk of Queen Mary’s Park. Despite the weather it was a great turn out.

Chiffchaff, Wren, Mistle Thrush, Magpies, Greenfinch, Skylark, Jay, Blackbird, Blackcap, Robin, Parakeet & Firecrest where all birds seen or heard on the walk.

The walk itself was very informative & fun with numerous requests that we repeat it later in the year, when we hope the weather will be better! Watch this space for further details.

What an amazing turnout for our Easter Egg hunt. We had 74 children with well over 200 people attending in total. It was great to see so many families in the park. Many thanks to everyone who made the occasion such a wonderful success & a true community event.

We are delighted to announce our first quarterly winner of Queen Mary’s Park 2025 Photo Competition. We would like to thank everyone who entered the competition which was tightly contested, but the overall winner for Q1 was Kathryn Campbell who has now received her £50 prize.

Congratulations also to Richard as runner-up & Joe who finished third.

Just a reminder that the deadline for the Q2 competition is 30/06/25.

A massive thank you to the 30 volunteers who turned up for the QMP litter pick today. It was a wonderful turnout with adults, children & dogs all contributing to a very successful & fun morning. It was a great community effort of which we should all be very proud.

Many thanks everyone.

We are delighted and excited to announce a new photo competition involving Queen Mary’s Park with the best 12 photos published in a calendar for 2026

A prize of £150 will go to the photographer who submits the winning photograph of the year and that appears on the front page of the Queen Mary’s Park Calendar 2026

Four quarterly prizes of £50 will be given to the best photos received before 31st March, 30th June, 30th September and 7th November. These will be photos showing the landscape and wildlife of the Park through the four seasons - Winter, Spring, Summer and Autumn

Many thanks to everyone who turned up to plant 500 tete-a-tete daffodil bulbs in the orchard area of the park. Despite the weather we had a great turnout. Roll on the Spring so that we can see the fruit of all our labours.

We are delighted to share the latest artistic and poetic contribution produced by Bernard Jacobs and Julie Curry that so perfectly captures the arrival of Autumn in Queen Mary’s Park. This is another wonderful piece of work from Bernard and Julie produced uniquely for the park for which we are immensely grateful. Thank you.

 > Click to download the poem and artwork <

Many thanks to everyone who turned up for our Summer litter pick. It was a perfect day with the sun shining and thankfully not too much litter. A picture of some of those who attended is below. Thank you everyone for keeping the park tidy.

Ian Wolstencroft from Sutton Council and Mark proudly show off the new flagpole, with our Green Flag Award flying high over the Park.

Ray and the QMP Friends Group successfully applied to Sutton Council for the flagpole to be provided, and for Public Realm funding to cover the cost.

11 Sutton Parks achieved the national Green Flag Award in 2023, ranking them as some of the best parks in the country. Joint work between Friends groups, volunteers, the Parks Service and contractor Idverde, have earned Suttons parks national recognition. The award demonstrates excellence and good practice in the management and development of parks and open spaces.

Many thanks to everyone who contributed to the Spring litter pick. A photo of some of the attendees is below. I also share a photo of Thomas Dixon who as part of his Duke of Edinburgh award is litter picking in the park for an hour a week for three months. He is pictured with Councillor Moira Butt who also attended the event today.

Many thanks everyone.

A massive thank you to everyone who made our first ever Friends of Queen Mary’s Park Easter Egg hunt such a success. The turnout exceeded any of our expectations. The beautiful sunny weather added to the enjoyment. Great fun was had by all.

Ten new fruit trees have been planted in the orchard area of the playing field. There is a mixture of apple, apricot, plum and gage. They are not very big at the moment and will take some time to get established, but hopefully they will grow well and give us some lovely spring blossom and some summer fruit. Thanks to the Tree Council for providing the trees, and thanks to Dawn from Sutton Council for organising the planting, and of course, our team of volunteers.

 > Click to download the tree map <

Many things have been happening over the last few months, mainly behind the scenes. Here is our Winter Newsletter to keep you up to date

 > Click to download the Newsletter <

Many thanks to everyone who helped with the planting of 2,000+ bulbs in the park. It was a beautifully sunny day and we had about 20 volunteers. A photo of some of the group is below. We are sure that the park will look even more stunning next Spring. Many thanks again to all those who made the event such a success.

Many thanks to everyone who turned up to our mid-Summer litter pick. We had a great turn out with some of those participating pictured here. We also had our local MP Elliot Colburn grab a black bin bag and help out. It was wonderful to see a number of young ones also assisting - although 12 week old Darcie did not contribute very much. Thank you everyone for helping to make the event such a success..

QUEEN MARY’S PARK EARNS THE GREEN FLAG AWARD
QMP has earnt the Green Flag Award, given by the Government for well managed parks. This has involved significant amount of effort in the last 12 months including writing a 10 year Management Plan with Sutton Council that runs to 40+ pages. Part of this plan was the new butterfly bank that has recently been created. It has also involved us being interviewed and assessed by an independent panel of judges. Many thanks to everyone who has helped us to achieve this award.

Do you have some spare time during the week? Do you like working with horses? Would you like to support events or fundraising? Bring your friends! We need new volunteers – please contact the office to find out more! Experience with horses is not required. Over 13s only.

The Committee is delighted to advise that we have been approached by Sutton Council to create a butterfly bank (c.300 square metres) in Queen Mary’s Park. This will become part of the Council's "Link the SINCs" project. We have had two meetings now with the Council & the Committee is in full agreement that we should agree to this initiative. The butterfly bank will be established in the bramble area across from the meadow. (See red highlighted area) Initially the butterfly bank will look quite stark, as it will be constructed from chalk, & will need about two years to establish itself. We therefore appreciate everyone’s support & patience but we all believe it will be worth it in the long term.
Please go to our Facebook Group to read more or share any comments.

 > Click to download the project leaflet <

The Friends of Queen Mary’s Park are delighted to announce in conjunction with Doug Shaw, local artist & nature enthusiast a free guided walk around our lovely park. We will spend about an hour together depending on how full of life the park is on the day.

This is a free family friendly activity that is open to all ages, but we do ask you to not bring your dog.

We look forward to seeing as many of you & your families as possible.

 > Click to download full details<

We are delighted to announce that we are holding our Easter Egg Hunt in Queen Mary’s Park over the next Bank Holiday weekend, Saturday 19th April 2025 at 11.00. Let’s hope for a sunny morning and lots of children.

Meet at the Kenny Drive entrance to collect your basket

Suitable for children 11 years and younger, and must be accompanied by an adult

We would love you to help us with our spring litter pick - All necessary equipment will be provided.

Please wear suitable shoes & clothing.

A community event for everyone.

Join us for the 10th Beeches Yulefest. A fun filled evening with entertainment including; local dance groups, choirs, puppets and live music. Childrens rides, activities and craft. Food and drink, raffle and tombolas and of course Father Christmas! Monies raised support this years charities; SERV Surrey & London and Maggie's.

Yes it’s that time of the year again when we are excited to report that Sutton Council have given us 500 tete a tete daffodils to plant in Queen Mary’s Park. We have decided this year to plant them in the orchard area and around the ten new fruit trees that we planted back in January. We would be delighted if you would join the Friends’ Group on Saturday 2nd November at 11.00 am and help us plant these bulbs. We would be thrilled to see as many of you as possible. Please bring your trowels and spades. Thank you.

At this ever-popular event, sponsored by the Surrey Masonic Sports Association, there will be Donkey Rides and a Petting Farm, Bouncy Castles, Steam Train Rides, and a Horse-Riding Display by the Diamond Centre riders. Music and entertainment will be provided by a local band, the Banstead Show Choir, Madder Mill Molly Morris Dancers and The Wandle Ceilidh Band.

There is a Dog Show, with Scurry and Fun Agility and of course a BBQ, and Refreshments along with a Bar and Pimm’s Bar. Other attractions include a children’s entertainer, a display of classic cars plus an Indoor Market with over 50 market stalls.

We have our Friends of Queen Mary’s Park Annual General Meeting on Tuesday 10th September, 7.00pm at Oaks Park High School. If you care about the future of the Park please come along and give us your ideas.
We would love to see as many of you there as possible.

We would love you to help us with our summer litter pick - All necessary equipment will be provided.

Please wear suitable shoes & clothing.

We would love you to help us with our spring litter pick - All necessary equipment will be provided.

Please wear suitable shoes & clothing.

We are delighted to announce our first Easter Egg Hunt in Queen Mary’s Park over the next Bank Holiday weekend, Saturday 30th March 2024 at 11.00. Let’s hope for a sunny morning and lots of children.

Meet at the Kenny Drive entrance to collect your basket

Suitable for children 11 years and younger, and must be accompanied by an adult