Volunteering in parks and green spaces
Getting involved in your local green space is a great way to get out, get some exercise and meet new people. There’s a whole range of projects taking place in Hackney’s parks that you can get involved in, such as food-growing, physical activities, gardening, and nature sessions.
On this page:
We offer a Corporate Volunteering programme for organisations who would like to help look after our Parks and Green Spaces.
Tasks include:
- litter picking
- bench and railing painting
- gardening tasks
- mulching flower beds
- tree care
- habitat building
Litter picks have no charge, but supervised volunteering sessions cost £30 per volunteer to cover staff time and the cost of buying equipment and materials for the session.
If you’re interested in organising a corporate volunteering session, email parks@hackney.gov.uk with the following information. We will then be in touch to discuss.
- name of your organisation
- number of volunteers
- preferred park or green space
- preferred date
Clissold Park
Join in with a variety of volunteering opportunities at Clissold Park – from litter picking to conservation tasks. No experience is necessary. We provide tools and refreshments.
For more information and to register for your free ticket, visit Eventbrite.
Abney Park
Conservation volunteering
Every Thursday 9.30am to 1pm
Join us for our regular Thursday conservation volunteering days. Activities include:
- clearing unwanted plants from front-row graves and sowing wild flower seed
- clearing and maintaining paths
- general cutting-back, litter-picking and tidying
We welcome everyone, but email parks@hackney.gov.uk bef
Abney Unearthed
Every Tuesday 10am to 2pm
Join our project to re-map and research the graves at Abney. Physical work on-site and/or desk-based research from home.
Email abneyunearthed@gmail.com to find out more.
Grave Maintenance
Every Wednesday 11am to 2pm
Join Abney Park Trust in their work to maintain private and Commonwealth war graves.
Email info@abneypark.org.uk to find out more.
Litter Picking
Second saturday of the month 10am to 12pm
Join Abney park Trust and Abney Park Users’ Group for a monthly litter pick. Just turn up, meeting at the first junction in from the High Street entrance.
See Abney Park volunteering to find out more about other volunteering opportunities such as helping at events and citizen science activities.
Springfield Park
Join in with a variety of volunteering opportunities at Springfield Park. From litter picking to conservation tasks and everything in between. No experience is necessary, we will provide tools and refreshments.
For more information and to register for your free ticket visit Eventbrite.
Growing Communities
Growing Communities sites are open for volunteering from February to November on Mondays and Tuesdays, but are sometimes closed over holiday periods. Check here before coming to the sites during school holidays or on bank holidays.
Opening times:
- Mondays 10am to 4pm, at Springfield Park
- Tuesdays 10am to 4pm, at Clissold Park
Core Landscapes
Core Landscapes have weekly volunteering opportunities between 10am and 2pm on Tuesdays. Core Landscapes welcomes and depends on volunteer help with caring for their garden and plant nursery. Valuing volunteers’ time, skills and ideas are an inherent part of Core Landscapes’ ethos.
They aim to listen to their volunteers’ reasons for joining them and wherever possible, cater the activities to the particular areas of interest of the volunteer. Volunteers can have responsibility for particular areas within Core Landscapes for vocational and personal development.
Dalston Eastern Curve
Weekly gardening sessions take place every Saturday, 2-5pm from April – December. These sessions are an opportunity to look after Dalston Curve Garden, enjoy being outside, meet a great group of other volunteers and learn all about plants and gardening.
You don’t need to have previous gardening experience, but they do ask volunteers to try to commit to a minimum of 2 gardening sessions per month – this means you get to learn about gardening and enjoy all the benefits of volunteering at the Curve Garden and they build a strong, knowledgeable team.
London Wildlife Trust
London Wildlife Trust is looking for practical wildlife volunteers, community outreach volunteers and a volunteer education assistant at Woodberry Wetlands in Hackney.
Robin Hood Community Garden
To stay updated on ongoing events, open days, and bespoke gardening sessions in the award winning Robin Hood Community Garden, visit Robin Hood Garden.
St Mary’s Secret Garden
St Mary’s Secret Garden tackles important issues like isolation and healthy lifestyles. They do a very wide variety of things so there’s scope for everyone to contribute – their expert team supports volunteers so they can really make a difference.
Tree Musketeers
The Tree Musketeers are volunteers who plant, protect and help preserve trees in Hackney. They provide tree care and watering sessions as well as guided walks in a number of Hackney’s parks. The Tree Musketeers run regular volunteer sessions at the tree nursery and edible forest garden. Anyone is free to turn up at the following times:
- Wednesday, 10am to 3pm
- Friday, 10am to 3pm
- last Saturday of every month, 10am to 3pm
For more information, visit tree nursery location.
User groups
There are a number of active park user groups in Hackney. These groups contribute significantly to parks and green spaces in Hackney through the voluntary activity of members who feel strongly about the care and improvement of Hackney’s green spaces.
Parks and Green Spaces
Address
Telephone
Opening times
- Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday – 9am to 5pm (telephone)
- Wednesday – 9am to 4pm (telephone)