Today we’re celebrating our beautiful Park being awarded a Green Flag Award for the 16th straight year! Not that we’re counting*

A massive thank you to everyone who supports the Park, volunteers or visits.

The Green Flag Award scheme, managed by environmental charity Keep Britain Tidy under licence from the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, recognises and rewards well-managed parks and green spaces, setting the benchmark standard for the management of green spaces across the United Kingdom and around the world.

Here are a few facts and stats about Alexandra Park, only one of which is made up:

• The Park formerly opened in 1863
• Our byelaws still prohibit anyone riding a ‘horse above the rate of eight miles per hour’ through the Park
• Rumour has it that there is Nazi gold in the boating lake
• The winning time for the 1875 pigeon race from Ally Pally Park to Brussels was 5 hours 43 minutes
• In 1895 the first women’s football match in the England was reported to have taken place here
• Television gardening began on 21 November 1936 from Ally Pally, when Mr Middleton presented ‘In The Garden’ from a purpose-built garden in the Park
• The Park is home to 694 different types of plants, animals and fungi, including 212 different types of insects and 26 types of arachnids!
• From 1868 to 1970 Alexandra Palace was home to a horse racing track, known as the ‘Frying Pan’
• We hate to name drop, but Arnold Schwarzenegger once landed his helicopter in the Park
• A military bunker was built in the Park at the height of the Cold War
• Among the London sights you can see from our panoramic view of the city: St Paul’s Cathedral, The Shard, Canary Wharf, London Eye and 3 Premier League football grounds
• W.G. Grace, Sir Jack Hobbs and Sir Don Bradman have all played cricket in our Park
• Alexandra Park is the location of the only confirmed UK sighting of Big Foot
• There are more than 7,500 trees in the Park

*we are counting