Friends of Richmond Park
The Friends of Richmond Park (FRP) was founded in 1961 to protect the park. In 1960 the speed limit in the park had been raised from 20 to 30 miles an hour and there were concerns that the roads in the park would be assigned to the main highway system as had recently happened in parts of Hyde Park. In 1969, plans by the then Greater London Council to assign the Park's roads to the national highway were revealed by the Friends and subsequently withdrawn. The speed limit was reduced to 20 miles an hour in the summer of 2004.
In 2011, the Friends successfully campaigned for the withdrawal of plans for open air screenings of films in the Park. In 2012, the Friends contributed towards the cost of a new Jubilee Pond, and launched a public appeal for a Ponds and Streams Conservation Programme in which the Friends, the Richmond Park Wildlife Group and Healthy Planet have been working with staff from The Royal Parks to restore some of the streams and the more than 30 ponds in the park.
The Friends run a visitor centre near Pembroke Lodge, organise a programme of walks and education activities for young people, and produce a quarterly newsletter. The Friends have published two books, A Guide to Richmond Park and Family Trails in Richmond Park; profits from the books' sales contribute towards the Friends' conservation work.
The Friends of Richmond Park has been a charitable organisation since 2009. It has 2000 members, is run by approximately 150 volunteers and has no staff. Broadcaster and naturalist Sir David Attenborough, former Richmond Park MP Baroness Susan Kramer and children’s author Dame Jacqueline Wilson are patrons of FRP. The president is Lord Rix. The chair is Ron Crompton, who also chairs the Royal Parks Friends Forum.The Friends Forum enables the chairs of all the Royal Parks Friends groups to meet regularly to discuss common issues and to make their views known to the chief executive of the Royal Parks, the Royal Parks Advisory Group and the Department of Culture, Media and Sport.
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“A man’s fortunes are the fruit of his character. A man’s friends are his magnetisms.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“Highbury bore me. Richmond and Kew
Undid me. By Richmond I raised my knees
Supine on the floor of a narrow canoe.”
“My feet are at Moorgate, and my heart
Under my feet.”
—T.S. (Thomas Stearns)
“Is a park any better than a coal mine? What’s a mountain got that a slag pile hasn’t? What would you rather have in your garden—an almond tree or an oil well?”
—Jean Giraudoux (1882–1944)