Gone but not forgotten

Central Park is one of the city’s best loved amenities, and has been since it was created in 1875. A bandstand was an integral part of the park but sometime around 1960 (if anyone has the actual date please get in touch) it was demolished.

In 2001, The Friends of Cental Park won a £630,000 lottery grant to revamp the park but had to shelve plans for a new bandstand because a willow tree would have had to have been cut down to make way for it.

The pictures left show two views of the bandstand – one in the foreground taken in the 1900s and an undated picture of the sunken garden with the bandstand in the background.

The picture bottom left is a Rembrance Day service at the war memorial in Bridge Street.

The so-called ‘sugar cube’ memorial was located outside the old Woolworth’s store. It was dissembled in 1995 after vandalism.

A new memorial was built in the cathedral grounds and the ‘sugar cube’ was relocated to the Edith Cavell Hospital.

Twelve years later it was found in disrepair and hospi- tal chiefs then said it would be housed in a garden of remembrance when the city’s new ‘superhospital’ was built.

Did this ever happen and if not what happened to the sugar cube?

Let me know if you have any information.

The final picture (above) is of the Great Northern Hotel showing the Hunts Cycling Battalion leaving Peterborough to fight in the Great War.

This plaque is located to the right of the main entrance to the Lido which is situated in Bishop’s Road.

Peterborough’s open-air swimming pool, or Lido, was designed by a panel of local architects and opened in 1936.

Its cost was £20,800, a large amount of money at the time, and the design contains elements of art deco and ‘hacienda-style’ design and is regarded as one of the best surviving examples in England.

It is still extremely popular and is used between May and September every year by over 20,000 people.

On 10 June 1940, the Lido was unlucky enough to experience a direct hit during the city’s first air-raid of the SecondWorldWar but was quickly back in operation.

It was designated a Grade II listed building in 1992 and celebrated its 80th birthday in 2016.

At its annual official opening for the summer season it is a tradition that the new mayor is the first to jump in, usually fully clothed!

Vivacity now manage the Lido and their website says that ‘this fantastic outdoor swimming complex offers three heated outdoor swimming pools; a 50m heated main pool, a teaching pool for children and a paddling pool for toddlers. The three large sun-bathing terraces, a large grass lawn and play area for the kids make the Lido the perfect venue for a fun family day out. There is also an onsite cafe serving hot and cold food as well as ice-cream and refreshments.’

One of Peterborough’s best-known and colourful characters, Walter Cornelius (1923-83), worked as a lifeguard at the Lido.

A plaque and weathervane dedicated to him were erected there in 2016, the plaque containing further information about his life and eccentric feats for charity.

Indeed, including our own, there are now three plaques in total at the Lido, the third being the splendid City of Peterborough plaque erected to mark the official opening by the mayor, Cllr A. H. Mellows on 28th May 1936. The plaque also includes names of all councillors who served on the Baths Committee.

This plaque is the seventeenth in a series of twenty blue plaques recently installed in the city centre by Peterborough Civic Society and was produced with generous financial assistance from Peterborough City Council.

Furtherdetailsaboutallthe plaques can be found in the accompanying leaflet available at the Visitor Information Centre in Bridge Street or via the society’s website.