February 2024 Talk about Working in Greenwich Park

Tom Stanier, the Horticultural Team Lead at Greenwich Park, gave a talk about his life as a gardener at the Park and a behind-the-scenes look at working there in these challenging times. He described how he came into gardening, his training and work at the Park and some of the Park infrastructure, policies and projects. It was great to hear from someone with hands-on experience there.

He said he felt a connection with Charlton House as he had been married there in 2018. His interest in gardening really took off in 2017 when he  moved into a flat in Lewisham with his partner and began to grow plants on his balcony and indoors. He had a radical rethink of his life in 2018. Having a child particularly refocused his life on his choice of a future career. Having been in retail for ten years, he decided he wanted to work out of doors and do something flexible and tangible. He successfully applied for the 2 year Royal Parks Apprenticeship Scheme which is part practical and part college-based course and chose to work at Greenwich Park as he thought it was more interesting. He completed an RHS Certificate and has since taken over leadership of the Horticultural Team at the Park, working closely with the head gardener.

Tom described some of the projects he is involved in and showed photos of the work in progress. In the traditionally planted rose beds, they have introduced more variety, including lots of ground cover which are sustainable and low maintenance – important in this time of financial austerity. They tried wild flower beds but this had not proved successful for a variety of reasons.

He said the Park is sponsoring the Future Gardeners charity project, providing work experience. He mentioned that much of the work in the Park is contracted out and that they are now using volunteers. He said if any CABAHS member was interested in volunteering to get in touch.

They are also renovating the lake and surrounding border. The water had become very poor quality and needed attention. In the process, they had improved the habitat for the ducks and other wildfowl. The planting scheme includes plants of interest throughout the year such as sedums, sea holly, lilies, Perovskia and Echinops, and water lilies and irises in the pond.

Tom’s team are in the process of restoring the acid grassland in the Anglo Saxon site.  They had also renovated the cricket square which took seven people a day to complete, only for it to be wrecked soon after.

They are also in the process of increasing the Park’s biodiversity and sustainability with greater use of perennials and less use of annuals.

Tom’s interesting talk shed light on some reasons why individuals take up gardening as a career and the career prospects in gardening as well as providing evidence that an Apprenticeship can be a good career option. Tom’s talk certainly stimulated in me the determination to go to the Park and see these renovations myself as soon as possible and I would encourage CABAHS members to go too. For more information on visiting check here.

Angela B