Parks you will fall in love with

RAIN or shine, droves of holidaymakers – including generations of Scots – have been flocking to historic Stanley Park in Blackpool for decades.

So it is little wonder the green space gem was named the UK’s best park at the 2017 Fields in Trust Awards – in the same year it celebrated its 90th anniversary.

Since it opened in 1926, the 250-acre park has been a key community hub and tourist attraction that welcomes more than two million visitors a year.

As well as colourful gardens and neat grassy areas, it boasts a 51-acre golf course, sports facilities, children’s play areas, model village, BMX course, Art Deco café, clock tower and stunning rose and Italian gardens.

And every Sunday during summer, around 2000 people enjoy free music events at its bandstand, which has sat beside a 22-acre lake since 1929.

In 1995 the park was placed on the national register of historic parks and gardens (Grade II) to recognise its historical significance.

It was designed by T.H. Mawson and Sons of London & Lancaster on land which had been bought by MP Sir Albert Lindsay Parkinson.

He persuaded the local authority to purchase the grounds from him, for the same price, on condition that it became a public park.

The Earl of Derby used a golden key to unlock the park’s main gates for the first time in 1926.

The attraction has thrived in recent years thanks to the efforts of the Friends of Stanley Park volunteer group, which counts singer Denise Nolan among its members. The group formed in 2002 to bolster Blackpool Council’s bid for a grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund.

The cash was granted and the park was subsequently restored to its former glory, holding the Green Flag Award since 2008.

In 2017, Blackpool City Council celebrated Stanley Park’s 90th anniversary by re-enacting the opening ceremony with staff, school children and guests dressed in period costume.

Among the special guests was 95-year-old Edith Wilkinson, who attended the first ceremony 90 summers ago.

And Edward Stanley, the 19th Earl of Derby, was asked to unlock the ornate main gates just as his grandfather did 90 years earlier – bringing the story of this glorious park full circle.