New year, fresh lease of life 
for historic Hanley Park

As many of you will know, we've been awarded £4.5m from the Heritage Lottery Fund and Big Lottery Fund thanks to money raised by National Lottery players across the UK.

Hanley Park is one of many parks to have benefitted from this funding in recent years, including our very own Burslem Park. Work to restore Burslem Park was completed in 2012, and it offers a tantalising taste of upcoming improvements here in Hanley.

We hope you'll agree that 2016 is set to be a very special year for Hanley Park as we embark on our long-awaited park restoration. At the time of writing we expect most works to be complete in late 2017.

To find out more about what's in store, visit our web page, where you can download a series of display panels about the proposals.

Or, even better - why not drop in and see us? Friends of Hanley Park offer afternoon tea every Wednesday afternoon at 2.30, and meet at 10.30 on Saturdays 13 February (AGM), 16 April, 18 June, 13 August, 15 October and 10 December - all are very welcome. The venue is the former bowls pavilion, next to the oval in the centre of the park.

We'll be delighted to discuss the plans for the park, answer any questions, and offer a heritage walk to put it all in context (ideally, please ring ahead on 07787 005946 if you would like a walk).

Read on for lots more news and opportunities from the park. We hope that all of our visitors enjoy the very best of a happy new year!

Image by kind permission of Appetite Stoke / Crisp Photography.

Get set for Stoke's first ever Snowflake Run!

Hanley Park is among four UK venues that will host Cancer Research UK's Snowflake Run this winter. Keep running through the cold season by taking on a 10km run, while raising vital funds to help beat cancer sooner. 
 
The frosty fun begins and ends in the park, with a route including special snow zones and even polar bear hugs - an added incentive to conquer the cold in aid of Cancer Research UK!

We'll be under starter's orders at 10am on Sunday 28th February.

Visit the Snowflake Run Series website to find out more and book your place

Busy beginnings for the Friends of Hanley Park 

Friends of Hanley Park is a community group dedicated to supporting the park restoration. Since starting out in early 2012, they have offered huge and invaluable support to making the project a success.

The group's volunteers have also organised a fantastic spring event, and—with our friends at Appetite Stoke—helped to make the Fire Garden a spectacular reality.

Alongside the restoration project, there is now lots to look forward to. The group have been successful in bids to the Police and Crime Commissioner’s People Power Fund and to the Big Lottery Fund’s Awards for All programme.

The first project has already enabled the Friends to establish a weekly pop-up café, while the second is enabling volunteers to improve a wildlife garden area close to College Road.

Chair Carole Ware has been involved with the group since it all began. She said: “Hanley Park is going to go from strength to strength, and we’d love more people to get involved with a great community project.”

New volunteer Tom Emery said: “I love coming to the park to work with a great team of new friends. It’s good to know that what I do will make a difference to lots of people. Nearly a million people come here every year, and it’s nice to be involved in something that matters.”

A team of gardening volunteers now meets on Tuesdays at 10am, and new members are always very welcome. No experience is necessary. Park Liaison Officer Tom Pine said: “The thing that I’m always impressed with is how much pride our volunteers have taken in their work in the park—whether they’re weeding, planting, or helping to promote an event, we couldn’t do it without them.”

There are also lots of other opportunities to get involved with the restoration project on a short or longer term basis. Projects include research and helping to record local people’s park memories as well as helping to create trails, activities and learning resources.

To get involved, contact Tom Pine, Park Liaison Officer, on 07787 005946, or email tom.pine@stoke.gov.uk

Some of the earliest sights and sounds of restoration will arise from tree maintenance.

This work is well suited to autumn and winter, when many trees are dormant and young birds have flown the nest.

Nearly 3,000 of the park’s trees were given an expert health check after the park received development funding from the Heritage Lottery Fund in late 2012. Most of the work proposed includes ‘crown thinning’ and other tender loving care to make sure our trees enjoy the best of health for years to come.

Why remove trees?

Around 15% of the park’s trees are showing signs of ill health arising from age and disease, and so there will be some removals. Trees may be removed for one or more of the following reasons:

• An older tree may be diseased or reaching the end of its natural life. Trees like these will usually be removed.

• Weaker trees can become dangerous, especially in windy conditions—however, few people know that trees can also lose branches in summer when temperatures soar.

• Many trees in the park are unplanned additions, or the result of ‘self-seeding’ over many decades. This means that the park has trees where they were never proposed by its designers. Sadly, these trees can weaken structures and block out the views that help the park to feel safer. Their shallow roots can also make improved planting difficult. Again, trees like this may need to be removed.

• Some trees, like many hollies, began their lives as knee-high decorative shrubs. Over a century later, they have become sprawling and dense. They can darken park entrances and block sightlines, making some areas feel less safe. Some of these trees are likely to be removed. Others may be cut close to ground level and encouraged to regenerate.

How will this impact on visitors and residents?

We would ask park users and local residents to be mindful that some machinery used to undertake tree maintenance can be noisy and hazardous.

Some work may need to be undertaken from the road, which may result in periods of inconvenience. Young children in particular should be kept at a safe distance.

Freshly treated trees can also look very stark. While the effect can appear severe, limbs are removed to promote longer term health and growth. In most cases, the idea is to allow more air and light to reach all parts of the tree. In turn this helps to reduce the risk of disease.

Find out more

Join our Park Liaison Officer, Tom Pine, and the Friends of Hanley Park, every Wednesday from 2.30 at the park’s former bowls pavilion, by the oval in the centre of the park. We will be delighted to meet you and to answer any questions about the restoration project, or the trees in the park.

Or, if you prefer, email tom.pine@stoke.gov.uk or call 07787 005946, and we will be delighted to meet you.

In our last newsletter, we asked...

Hanley Park and New York’s Central Park were designed by the same person — Thomas Mawson. True or false?

The answer is: False.

It’s a story we have heard many times. However, there is no truth in the old rumour that Hanley Park and New York’s Central Park were designed by the same person— though we’re very sorry to disappoint!

Mawson did become very well known in North America, but the only ‘Central Park’ he ever designed can be found in Plymouth, Cornwall. This plan was only partly realised, and a scaled-down park opened in 1928. Intriguingly, there are now plans to 'finish' Mawson's scheme.

Picture looks familiar?

Although you may not recognise the building in the picture, you won’t find it in New York. This is in fact our very own pavilion as it first appeared in sketch form. Had this vision become reality, then today we might be restoring a miniature Brighton Pavilion.

Amid financial pressures (and perhaps sadly, depending on your taste), the very ornate frontage was never built. Happily, Mawson and his partner Dan Gibson left us with a very beautiful building on a sun-kissed terrace. It will soon be transformed into a fabulous café for all to enjoy.

More trivia will appear in our upcoming newsletter. We'll also be offering seasonal things to do and download for the whole family, throughout the year.