Thistleblower - apologies for giving the director a sex change!
However, I do know that they charge for renting out the conservatory for wedding receptions - when I enquired nearly 15 years ago they quoted ?6,000 for the evening (you could have scraped me off the floor with a feather! erm, mixed metaphor, but you get the gist). Naturally, I took my business elsewhere, out of Forest Hill, together with all the other spending - florist, car hire, catering, cake etc. But that's another story....
How much more for most of the gardens?? If we're misinformed, could someone please enlighten us?
They need to make money to cover the running costs (not small!) somewhere and other similar organisations would do so by charging for premises hire etc. for events to subsidise the free museum. While I'm sure they get lots of grant funding and donations, commercial activities are, I'm sure, a part of their funding stream e.g. gift shop, tea room. Note also that they charge for their special exhibitions e.g. Robot Zoo.