Focus on Heywood: The Friends of Queen’s Park

Photo: Laura Wild

Queen's Park, Heywood

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On 9 August 1873, a Heywood man named Martin Newhouse died without making a will, as a result Queen Victoria purchased land and had it laid out as a park, it was then given for the use and enjoyment of the inhabitants of the town of Heywood and its neighbourhood.
The park was officially opened on 2 August 1879 with huge parade invoving local churches, schools and traders.

Of course since 1879 many things happened to the park, and it became run down, so 21 years ago, in 1989, the Queen’s Park Restoration Group was formed, today, it is known at the Friends of Queen’s Park.

Rochdale Online reporter Laura Wild, met with the chairwoman of the group, Sheila Hill, to find out just why the group was set up.

Sitting in the park on a glorious day towards the end of the summer holidays Mrs Hill said: “I used to come here to walk my dog; I could walk around the entire park and not bump into a single soul. The paths were a state, in those days we had the boat house and that was in total disrepair. The place was a mess the side of the lakes were about to collapse.”

Obviously, Mrs Hill’s description is completely different to the park which the people of Heywood now know and love, a park which was voted the Nation’s favourite in September this year.

Mrs Hill contacted the Heywood East Community Based Action Group in a bid to improve the park, months later following numerous meetings and sending letters, it was suggested that a friends of the group be formed.

And, 21 years later, the group is still there. With Mrs Hill and Mr Walter Lomax the remaining founder members.
The friends’ first meeting took place at Mr Lomax’s home where they discussed what improvements they would like to make, including signage, benches and planting.

“It was very hands on at the beginning,” said Mrs Hill “Now we focus more on events and car boot sales, and raising money to go back into the park to continually improve it.”

The park has had a Heritage Lottery Grant which helped them to carry out much of the improvements, and just recently, they were left £5000 from a Heywood lady, which they will also use for park improvements.

“I used to hate sitting here and looking at the sunken garden,” said Mrs Hill. “It was appalling, but we restored it back to flower beds.”

Mrs Hill explained what she feels is the biggest achievement over the past 21 years, “We have got people back into the park, there is a feeling of safety and enjoyment and it is beautiful.

“In the 1960s there was lots of vandalism and people were frightened but now the park is much more open, the trees have been cut back and you can see right into the park and it feels a lot safer. There is also more staff around. The staff do a wonderful job keeping the park tidy and so on.”

There are 12 members in the Friends of Queens Park group, but Mrs Hill feels that isn’t enough.

“We don’t have enough members,” she said, “We need to get some younger people involved with fresh ideas.

“The more input we get from people the more they will see it as their park and they will appreciate it more.”

Mrs Hill said there is one thing that sets them out from other parks. “We haven’t stopped,” she said, “We have kept improving the park, even though we have had the funding we still keep improving the park and finding things that would be great for Queen’s Park.”

Mrs Hill continued: “One of the best achievements we had was right at the beginning when we were fixing the lakeside, that was real team work on a boiling hot day.

“I am sure everybody that took part will remember those days.

“We also had lots of community tree and bulb planting which gets people involved and the police have also co-operated well with us from a security point of view.”

Mrs Hill added: “One thing that is disappointing is that we never managed to get the boats back on the lake – of course we have tried but the insurance costs are so great.

“Listening to people talk about the past it seems they used to have lots of fun on the lake.”

Speaking about the future Mrs Hill said: “Hopefully we will have a prosperous and enjoyable future. We have something for everybody and we hope to maintain those standards.”

Mrs Hill described her involvement with the park as “rewarding” she said: “It is wonderful to see the achievements, of course we have had our ups and downs and our fallings out and sometimes you have to swallow your pride but it is just wonderful.

“I would never have thought we would have got this far not in my wildest dreams.”

When asked what she likes best about the park Mrs Hill said: “Even on a busy day like today you can still feel the peace. There is a real peaceful element you can block everything else out and relax.”

Events organised by the Friends of Queen’s Park run from April through to mid September, and carol singing also takes place at Christmas.

To find out about more community groups in Heywood visit:

http://www.rochdaleonline.co.uk/community/groups/heywood