Get Involved!

Volunteering

We work with 3000+ volunteers a year on practical projects and historical recording.  

Find out what volunteering with the Friends is really like and read through our guide below:

Location - Tower Hamlets Cemetery Park, Southern Grove, E3

Transport - Nearest tube station is Mile End, others include Bow Church DLR & Bow Road Tube. Buses - D6, D7, D8, 25, 277, 323 & 339 also stop near the park.

Meeting Point - All events will begin outside the Soanes Centre, Southern Grove E3 at the start time listed, unless otherwise specified.

Contact - Unless specified otherwise, call Kenneth Greenway on 07904 186 981 for further details.

Every Tuesday:

Weekly ‘Drop in’ Volunteer day, 10am - 4pm

Come for all or part of the day. Find a job or task that suits you and your interests, and help the “Friends”, in caring for and developing Tower Hamlets Cemetery Park for wildlife, people and education. The park has Local Nature Reserve status and is  great place for both natural history and human history.

The time and date of volunteering may vary so before our first visit please phone Ken on 07904 186 981.

The first Sunday of every month:

From 10am - 4pm

Join us for the day helping to improve the park for wildlife and people. Projects are seasonal so each month we carry out a different project. Gloves and tools are
provided along with refreshments, but please wear clothes to get mucky in, sturdy footwear and don't forget to bring a packed lunch.

Historical Recording:

From 2pm - 4pm

During the Park's time as a Cemetery (1841 - 1966) the recording and documenting of burials and monuments by the Company was poorly carried out.  As the monuments get older, and are damaged by weathering they become harder to read. If you're interested in local history you could join members of the East London History Society to help them record the monuments so the historic content of the Park can be preserved. You'll also have the opportunity to learn all about the burial history of the park and some of the Park’s better known 'residents'.

Open days and events -  We have a large and extensive events programme and during the year we have several large public open days, such as our annual Woodland Craft and Funday held in May, our annual tree dressing celebration in December, and we also take part in the London Open House weekend.  For all these events we need individuals to take on particular roles and responsibilities such as:

- Organising and planning
- Stewards
- Making cakes
- 'Manning' the refreshment stall and information desk.
- First aid provision
- Running exhibits like the bouncy castle
- facepainting

Helping the committee and trustees - Everybody has useful skills and talents, and like with many Charities from time to time we experience gaps in our skills base.  If you just have a lot of enthusiasm and want to help, or if you have a background in such things as HR, I.T., or finance then we need your help. Your input and help will contribute to our aims and objectives to bring forward our plans to improve the governance and strategic running of our responsibilities as a Charity and Company Limited by Guarantee. Anyone's expertise is welcome, you do not have to be an ecologist, biologist, City professional or historian. From governance to web design you can contribute. If you have a skill that you may like to use for the good of the park please contact us and we will see what can be done.

Biological monitoring - The Cemetery Park is a rich place and home to a great many animals and plants and we're a key partner in Tower Habitats, Tower Hamlets Biodiversity Action Plan Partnership.  We have a large number of records for species that are National Notable, Scare, Red Data Book or UKBAP species.  This is all very exciting and adds to the importance of the Park and contributes to it's security.

We currently undertake a great deal of biological monitoring both by engaging the services of professionals and amongst ourselves.  This monitoring helps to guide our nature conservation work and shows that what we do is generating a positive response from wildlife. There is also a good deal of informal monitoring that is carried out by interested individuals.

We currently record regularly both formally and informally, butterflies, beetles, spiders, birds, bats, plants, fungi.

If you're looking to improve your identification skills or you have a particular expertise in a field that you're willing share then please get in touch, we'd love to hear from you.

Training - Whether you're a parks manager, part of a green space maintenance team, involved with the management of RSL estate greens, or an interested individual. Throughout the year, on a monthly basis we offer FREE training on topics concerned with managing for biodiversity.  

We use the Cemetery Park as the resource and training venue, previous topics have included: woodland management, spring bulbs, wildflower meadows and identifing wildlife.

Get in touch to find out more!

Check out the events page.