Will joined Crystal Palace Park Trust in September 2022 and leads our grounds maintenance team covering everything across the 200-acre site from grass cutting to tree management, litter picking to building maintenance, footpath repair to security. He also supports all the businesses that provide facilities for visitors, such as the cafes, ice cream vendors, boat hire, food market and car boot sale!

But Crystal Palace Park is no typical park. It is also 200-acre outdoor museum with many unique and internationally significant heritage features. Whether its the world-famous Dinosaurs or Victorian-era maze, the enigmatic Sphinxes or the award-winning Subway, Will is responsible for making sure we are taking good care of the 170 years of history that surrounds us.

Will has worked for many other London green spaces, including Holland Park, Peckham Rye Park and Dulwich Park. He is also a judge for the Green Flag Award scheme. 

He cycles to work from Forest Hill, where he lives with his wife and daughter, and two grown-up sons who are currently students. He loves tropical plants and is currently trying to grow banana plants at home. He enjoys watching cricket and cycling, as well as, of course, Gardeners’ World.

Meet Will, Director of Park Management

“My career in parks and gardens started when I was a biology student. I felt like I wanted to be more hands on as a gardener, so I walked into Holland Park and asked for a job. Amazingly, they took me on - but only because they needed someone who could drive and I happened to have a driving license. 

“I went on to study horticulture, alongside 26 years of experience working in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea’s parks, in green spaces on the South Bank, and for Southwark Council, across multiple parks and spaces, in park ranger and warden roles, before joining the park management team.

“I don’t do too much hands-on gardening at work these days - apart from watering the plants in the Trust’s offices. A typical day for me might include catching up with one of our concessions partners who run our food and drink outlets; briefing our grounds maintenance team on priority tasks for the week ahead; planning major works like removing a diseased tree that poses a threat to visitor safety - and meetings! There’s a lot of those, and I’m glad it’s getting warm enough to have some of my meetings outside, although there’s a good chance I’ll get sidetracked seeing things in the park that need attention. 

“There have been a lot of changes here since I started, when there was just me and three others and the park was still run by Bromley Council. Now the Trust has a team of 14 working on site, with more changes for the park itself about to start. Our regeneration project recently kicked off, and alongside the heritage restoration, there’s some new planting that I’m especially looking forward to. 

Around the Tidal Lake, we’ll be reusing silt taken from one area to broaden the lake edges, making more room for planting and enhancing the lake’s biodiversity. At the dinosaur end of the lake, alongside restoring the sculptures, we’ll be adding more plants that date back to prehistoric times, in keeping with the periods that the creatures would have lived. And looking ahead to the restoration of the Italian Terraces, we’re planning very naturalistic wildflower planting, which will flower early in the year - great for early insects - and can then be mown to make way for events, before growing back naturally the next year. 

“That’s all to come but in the meantime there’s a lot still to do. At 200 acres, this is one of the largest public parks in London, so I’m happy to say there are plenty of people contributing to maintaining it.

“Our team of 12 from Gavin Jones Ltd have made a great impact since they started here in September 2023. They’re out every day of the year doing routine jobs like clearing leaves from paths and weeding as well as bigger jobs like cutting back some of the massively overgrown shrubs and plants across the park. They take photos of their work so we can share it on our social media channels - and leaf-clearance posts are some of the most popular. It’s great to see our visitors appreciating the team’s work as much as I do! 

“Most recently they’ve been helping us prepare for the regeneration project by cutting back vegetation around the dinosaur models - something we’re all taking great care with, so we don’t disturb any nesting birds. 

“The flowerbeds at Vicar’s Oak - on the corner of the park near the bus station - are looked after by volunteers from Invisible Palace, who created the planting scheme in 2018, and have been keeping them looking lovely ever since.

“We have some planting of our own to do in Jubilee Gardens, just inside the gates from Vicar’s Oak. Traditionally these beds were planted with annuals, which look pretty but are labour- and water-intensive. We’ve started replacing them with perennials and we’ll have time to finish planting up the rest of the beds while the regeneration works are going on in other areas of the park. 

“If you’re itching to do some planting and make your own mark in the park, then watch this space. We’ll be inviting more volunteers to get involved with gardening in the park so hopefully I’ll see some of you getting your hands dirty here soon - I might even join you!”

We’ll introduce you to another member of the team soon. Let us know if there’s a particular area of work you’d like to hear about, or if you have any questions, ideas or feedback, please get in touch via contact@crystalpalaceparktrust.org.