Committee
Elected representatives caring for our community space
Committee members are elected from among the Friends of Mycenae Gardens membership at the Annual General Meeting each year in accordance with the group’s Constitution.
The committee meets regularly throughout the year to coordinate efforts to preserve and improve the gardens. Meet our team below.
Mark Barnes
Committee Member Mark is a local resident and has been a member of the Friends of Mycenae Gardens since the group was founded. He joined the committee in 2016 and served as Chair from 2017 to 2023.
Fiona Machen Harrison
Committee Member Fiona has lived in Greenwich since 1988. After a career in the retail sector, she re-trained with the Royal Horticultural Society, devoting more time to people and wildlife in the great outdoors. She helped set up Christchurch School Community Garden in East Greenwich and with several years’ experience managing volunteers and fund raising, Fiona is also now involved in championing green space enhancement for several other organisations. She joined the committee of the Friends of Mycenae Gardens in 2019.
Juan Coleman
Committee Member Juan is a Greenwich resident and a regular in the Gardens with his family. He has spent more than 25 years working in product design, branding and technology, and joined the committee in 2026 to strengthen the group’s digital presence. He leads the Friends’ website, visual identity and digital projects, including the Wildlife Spotter, which encourages visitors of all ages to look more closely at the wildlife around them. He is particularly interested in using technology to lower the barrier to volunteering and to make the Gardens easier to find, use and support.
Anne Robbins
Committee Member Anne has lived in Westcombe Park for 25 years. Helping to plant the small orchard in East Greenwich Pleasaunce sparked her interest in working with the Parks Department to improve public spaces. She acts as liaison between the Westcombe Society and the Friends of Mycenae Gardens, and is a founding member of Wilder Greenwich, with a particular focus on gardening at Westcombe Park Station.
Stewart Williams
Chair Stewart has lived in the area for over 25 years. He retired a few years ago after a hectic career in the IT side of the insurance world. He has been Chair of the Friends for a few years now, bringing his organisational skills to the group to make up for what he happily admits is limited horticultural knowledge. Outside the gardens, he and his wife enjoy good food and travelling the globe.
Virginia Williams
Treasurer Virginia has lived in the Westcombe Park conservation area for 28 years. After retiring from the corporate insurance sector, she combined her finance knowledge with a strong community spirit to join the Friends of Mycenae Gardens committee as Treasurer, a role she has held for the past three years. When she is not volunteering in the gardens, she enjoys travelling the world and experiencing new places and cultures.
What does being a committee member involve?
Firstly, committee members need to be proposed by two other members and elected at the AGM. If you stand as a potential committee member, you should be prepared to give a very brief statement at the AGM about why you would like to represent the group and what skills and enthusiasms you can bring.
Use the nomination section below to put yourself forward for election.
In addition to the AGM, committee members attend about four committee meetings a year to discuss issues that arise and consider how to protect, sustain, and improve the gardens. The group has a management plan, agreed by Greenwich Council, which underpins this work.
How the group is governed
The Friends of Mycenae Gardens are a volunteer community group, run under a written constitution agreed by the membership. It sets out what the group exists to do, who can join and vote, how the committee is elected and how the group handles its money.
The constitution currently in force was amended on 18 October 2022. You can read it in full, and changing any part of it needs 28 days’ notice and a two-thirds vote at a General Meeting.
Committee responsibilities
As a committee member you support other colleagues on the committee in contributing to the aims and objectives of the Friends group. The committee ideally reflects a variety of enthusiasms and interests, and members may need to make the case for particular issues or step back from personal aims to make sure all users of the gardens are fairly represented.
- Attend around four committee meetings each year to discuss issues and opportunities.
- Help protect, sustain, and improve the gardens in line with the management plan agreed with Greenwich Council.
- Support the aims and objectives of the Friends group and help represent different users of the gardens fairly.
- Contribute skills such as coordinating volunteer events, identifying news items, researching plants, replying to emails, and supporting funding bids.
- Work with others who share a commitment to keeping Mycenae Gardens well managed and developed for everyone.
Annual General Meeting
Our AGM brings the community together to review progress, share plans for the gardens, and welcome ideas for the year ahead.
