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About The Friends

Friends of Dunorlan Park is a group of people who share a love of the Victorian park at the heart of Royal Tunbridge Wells, and who aim to ensure the Park continues to be relevant to the lives of local people and visitors.

OUR FOUNDATION

The Friends of Dunorlan Park (FoDP) was launched at a public meeting at the Town Hall in October 1996, following an informal discussion about the Park’s deteriorating condition at the home of the late Peter Reynolds, our first Chairman and Honorary Life President.

FoDP was registered as a charity in July 1997 with the purpose: 'To further the restoration, preservation and sympathetic development for enjoyment by the public of the urban park and gardens known as Dunorlan Park, Tunbridge Wells, in the county of Kent.'

OUR MISSION

Today, the Friends are vital to ensuring the continued well-being of our restored Park. We are committed to the aims and objectives that underpin all our activities - they are:

Promoting and encouraging 'enjoyment for all' in the Park.

Ensure TWBC continues to properly fund, maintain and improve the Park and it's facilities.

Monitor and take appropriate action against any nearby development proposals that would have an adverse effect on the Park.

Encourage wider knowledge and use of the Park, particularly through local schools and by arranging Park events.

Encouraging the use of Dunorlan Park as a healthy recreational facility for people of all ages.

Promoting conservation and biodiversity within the Park.

We have helped fund the purchase of a defibrillator by the café and largely funded the new drinking facility. We also fund the winter wildfowl feeding.

WHAT WE'VE ACHIEVED

We ensured the Park's restoral to its former grandeur by the end of 2004.

In 2002 English Heritage had named Dunorlan as a park of historical interest and granted it a Grade 2 listing status.

In February 2003, we helped to secure a £2.1 million grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund towards the cost of restoration. Since then we have part funded the renovation of the islands in the lake which house an important wildfowl habitat. we have also contributed towards the cost of a path at the Victoria Cross Grove and fencing in of exposed roots of old oak trees to extend their life.

We raised £10,000 towards the water features of the restoration project via an aptly named Millennium Cascade Fund.

Since then, we have focused on improving the Lake and Ponds; a path around the lake; restoring the fountain and avenue of cedars and reinstating the historic Victorian garden.