GALA Music Festival 2025

Gala Music Festival 2025

This year’s festival will be held over 4 days, Friday 23rd - Monday 26th May. The footprint of the festival has been enlarged, encroaching further south east of the site. There will be a new access point in Colyton Road and a trackway built along the south side of the Park, so another new significant area of grass to be churned up and damaged.

The Festival organisers are holding drop-in sessions for consultation at

The Watson's General Telegraph, 108 Forest Hill Rd, London SE22 0RS.
This is a five minute walk from the park and fully wheelchair accessible.
Lunchtime Session:
Time: 12:00 PM - 2:00 PM
Date: Monday 17th of March
Location: The Watson's General Telegraph

Evening Session:
Time: 6:00 PM - 8:00 PM
Date: Monday 17th of March
Location: The Watson's General Telegraph

Community Wildlife Garden Next Volunteer Day - Sunday 6th April 10am-12 noon

The Community Wildlife Garden is largely maintained by the Friends and our volunteer mornings are usually on the first Sunday of the month. The more volunteers the merrier, so please make sure to come along.  If you want to know more about the volunteer days, please email peckhamryepark@gmail.com

PARK TOILETS

We have been pressuring Southwark Council to refurbish the toilets by the Rangers Hut in the Park. They have bee the only working toilets in the Park since the es by the Adventure Playground have been closed since being vandalised over a year ago..

A groundswell of complaints from Park users and a online petition created by oe of our members seems to have resulted in action. However Southwark Parks have said they will start work after the summer so that the toilets can be used during their busiest months.

They also claim that the toilets by the Adventure Playground were mended in October 2024 and are open from 7.30am until Park closure. All the reports we have received and our own evidence has been that these toilets are not open. The Park rangers are investigating.

We still don not understand why users of Peckham Rye Park should be so badly catered for when Dulwich Park has 3 sets of toilets in a good state of repair - fully tiled, well lit, freshly painted ad with cctv. Shame on you Southwark

THiS YEAR'S FETE - SATURDAY 6th SEPTEMBER 2025

Our ever popular fete and dog show will be held on Peckham Rye Common on Saturday 6th September 2025 from 12-5pm. It takes a lot of work to run the fete and we especially need volunteers to run the coconut shy and children’s races. Please contact us on peckhamryepark@gmail.com if you can give us an hour or two of your time.

We had another wonderful fete and dog show last year on Saturday 7th September. A busy crowd enjoyed all the fun of the dog show, sack races, coconut shy, Punch and Judy, the Friends-run stands and stalls such as the Pimms, wine and beer stand, the tea and cakes tent, and the book and plant stalls, along with a variety of other food stands and stalls

The dog show profits are given to charity.

All other profits from last year’s fete were spent on clearing the central rose beds on the Sexby Garden which had become seriously overgrown and most of the roses need replacing.

Flood Alleviation Works

The fencing has been taken down and we are waiting for the final landscaping to be done on the north side of the Common.

The damage to areas of the Common is awful - sections of churned up mud instead of grass. After a site visit with the Friends, the park rangers and the works commissioner at the Council we are still awaiting news of when remedial works will be started. It is essential that it is done now to allow the grass to regrow this Spring.

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The American Garden

The American Garden, located between the Sexby Garden and the Lake, is now open. The Garden has been replanted with trees, shrubs and eye-catching, nectar-rich herbaceous plants of a kind first introduced to Britain through the world famous 18th century seed and plant exchange between Britain’s Peter Collinson, FRS and John Bartram of Philadelphia. The funding of the garden was supported by the US Embassy, Lord Harris, Southwark Council, the Friends of Peckham Rye Park., the Local Postcode Trust and Vindor. The project was overseen by Nancy Coleman-Frank.

Tiny Forest

With the help of volunteers, Earthwatch, an environmental charity, have planted and will be responsible for a Tiny Forest on the southern edge of Peckham Rye Common,

Bowling Green update

Southwark Council have now decided in favour of the option that involves community focussed public bowling for casual and competitive games complemented by a bar stocked with local, craft and ethical products.

Former Lido Site - update April 2021

The feasibility study for which funding was raised by Peckham Lido CIC back in 2016 was finally published in April 2021 (accessible via the Peckham Lido Facebook page)..

The study outlines four options (the fourth of which is to take no further action) and states a preference for Option two which would involve: Heated lido and café, possibly supplemented by a gym and fitness centre; a 125+ years lease from Southwark council with no break or restrictive clauses; and a yearly contribution from the council for capital expenditure.

Option two, the study says, would have a 'greater impact' than the other three options on the Common, which is protected Metropolitan Open Land. Overall development and construction costs are estimated at £6m. 

The feasibility study does not mention that, as part of the flood alleviation project works, planning permission has been given by Southwark Council and the Secretary of State for re-landscaping  the northern end of the Common (including the site of the old lido) with new pathways and biodiversity areas.

We will keep you informed as and when we hear any news

Be Green - Respect the Park and Common

There has been an increase of visitors to the Park and Common. Unfortunately this has resulted in a widespread increase of rubbish and people have been using the bushes as a toilet. There has also been damage to planting and even plant theft. Please do what you can to impress upon others the importance of respecting the Park and Common and encourage them to take their rubbish home.

The picture is of the signage put up in the Royal Parks.

Privacy statement

As a result of the General Data Protection Regulation, which comes into
effect on 25 th May 2018, we are providing this summary of how FOPRP
collects and uses members’ personal data.

Information we collect. We collect your personal details when you join
FOPRP or otherwise provide them to us. The data will include all or some of
the following: name, address, email address, date and method of payment.

Use of your information. We use your information only for the purpose it
was collected, which is to send you the FOPRP newsletter and keep you
informed about matters affecting Peckham Rye Park and Common.

Storing of information. Your information is stored on a secure computer
system. We control who has access to this information. We review what we
hold and delete what is no longer required. If you use PayPal, your payment
details are held securely by PayPal.

Sharing data. We do not sell your data and we do not share it with anyone
outside the FOPRP committee.

Your data, your choice.  The new legislation does not require us as a
membership organisation to get renewed consent to use your information,
and our assumption is that you will be happy for FOPRP to continue to hold
and use your data to keep you informed about Peckham Rye Park and
Common. If this is not the case, please contact us by email at
foprp@aol.com or write to us at The Friends of Peckham Rye Park, c/o The
Park Office, Strakers Road, Peckham Rye Park, London SE15 3UA