Park up the Ferrari and go green to plant family legacy
AS a dog owner I am a regular user of public parks in our area. Given the constant restraint on council funding Cheshire East staff do a fantastic job of maintaining and presenting exceptional floral displays with no assistance whatsoever from any park keeping service.
Do you remember the old ‘parkie’ whose job was to collect fees for the use of park facilities and prevent youths causing damage? For some kids annoying and dodging the parkie was the best game in town.
Macclesfield has some really wonderful parks but all of these are on land donated by wealthy families.
I don’t see much of that going on today… quite the reverse.
Concreting over the greenbelt seems to be the name of the game.
When was the last time any wealthy family donated sufficient land to create a public park?
Victoria Park donated by the Brocklehurst family opened in 1894
South Park gifted by the Ryle family opened in 1922
West Park created by public donation opened in 1854
Bollington Recreational Ground was originally donated by the Gregg family and opened in 1901
It’s all very well breezing around Alderley Edge on a Sunday afternoon in your Ferrari Roma if you value your reputation as a Hooray Henry.
But if you want your family name to be known and respected by future generations donate a park.
That’s serious money not a couple of grand here and there to impress your friends at black tie auction after dinner.
I ran one auction where a local ‘celebrity’ placed a very generous winning bid for a painting he never actually collected or paid for. How cheap is that?
If you want your family name to stand for something dig deep and build a park.
Not some little excuse for a park but a big beautiful open space for the benefit of all.
God knows we need some open spaces in this rush for urban development.
Fifty years from now no one is going to say this was the man with the Ferrari.
That guy will be gone forever…sunk without a trace but create a wonderful park in your memory and your family name will live on in perpetuity.
Should you consider yourself seriously wealthy stop play acting.
Cash in some of your chips and open that magnificent park
Go on…I dare you.