Tavistock Square trees, yellowing gingko and reddening acers, and a copper beech and gingko in Brunswick Square are really showing their autumn colours now, while the Cortaderia in Cartwright Gardens adds a cooler wintry note.

The autumn newsletter from Friends of Russell Square is now out and available in the cafe -and also here to download. Open it for a good read.

Lovers of Bloomsbury gardens who have long looked for ways of increasing funding for upkeep and inprovements will be interested in this initiative of Hammersmith and Fulham council, reported in the Evening Standard. Care of parks is not a statutory duty and the work is low on the list of essential council expenditure. “The council […]

This beautiful Acer rubrum (red maple) is brightening up dreary November days in Gordon square. Autumn colours are really coming through now, so snap any you spot before all the leaves come down and let us share them.

Next Saturday, 18 November, Dr Roger Bowdler will be leading another walk around the graves in St George’s Gardens, talking about graveyard history, Georgian burial practices and famous people buried in the Gardens. Do join us – at 12.00 noon at the Handel Street entrance. Also, you might like to join Chris Foster after our event, […]

Ailanthus altissima ‘Tree of Heaven’ trees looking amazing laden with with clusters of winged seeds in Brunswick Square, spotted by our roving photographer in October. Another name is ‘stink tree’ because of its unpleasant smell. Ailanthus is not a native tree and can be something of a weed tree, turning up and growing fast where […]

The festival is well underway with many events around the area. In particular, an open air dramatic production in St George’s Gardens on Saturday 21 October at 3 pm and, all through the festival, a photographic exhibition on the railings of Brunswick Square. Deaf photographer Stephen Iliffe’s photographic portraits range from female vicar to Muslim […]

On Saturday October 21 at 3pm as part of the Bloomsbury Festival, actors Debbie Radcliffe and Jules Date will be telling the story of another of our graveyard’s famous occupants – Julia Betterton Glover, buried there in 1850. We’ve called this unearthing The Story of a Victorian Megastar. Mrs Glover acted on the London stage […]

New ‘knee rails’ are being installed in Russell Square at present, around three of the flowerbeds. The others will follow when Camden funding allows. This will delinate the beds more visually and physicallyfor pedestrians and dog owners, and hopefully prevent incursions causing damage to the planting. After the installation of the knee rails is completed […]

A new portrait of Noor Inayat Khan was unveiled recently at the RAF Club by Queen Camilla. Noor, a radio operator and fluent French speaker, was dropped into enemy occupied France in 1943 to aid the French resistance, sending messages back to England. Noor Inayat Khan was born in Moscow and lived as a child […]