Bid to saveWicksteed Park gathers pace

ANonlineappeal to save Kettering’s WicksteedPark– said tobetheoldest themepark inBritain, andwhichhashad itsown2ftgaugerailway since1931– hadraisedmorethan£ 120,000 aswe closedforpress.

Opened in 1921 by industrialist Charles Wicksteed, on June 15 the Wicksteed Charitable Trust announced thatWicksteed Park Ltdhad gone into administration with the loss of 115 full and part- time jobs threatening the future of the attraction. The park was said tohave undergone“months of uncertainty and difficulty” and “huge financial strain” because of the Covid- 19 pandemic.

While the individual attractions are closed, the park has remained open and operating through a new smaller trading company formed by a small group of employees backed by the trust, and which plans to reopen the park fully after next spring for its 100th anniversary.

The railwaywas the last feature to be added during the lifetime of the park’s founder and was supported by the Friends of the Wicksteed Park Railway.

Trust chairman Oliver Wicksteed, grandson of the founder, said:“We are all devastated.”

➜ Theappeal to save thepark can be found atwww. justgiving. com/ wicksteedcharitabletrust