story of parks november 2015
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Newsletter
November 2015
Story of Parks
Hello Again!
A big welcome as always to new readers this month! October was packed full of activities, so we re-cap on what's been happening; including our October talk, our metalworking activity and our visit to Sparkenhoe Community Primary. It is now November, and the start of our city-wide oral history recordings. We also have our final talk of the year with Liz Blood who will discuss the history of the War Memorial. This event is already over half full so please be quick to guarantee a place!
Story of Parks
What’s been happening? The 22nd of October saw Dr
Jeremy Crump delivered a very interesting and in-depth talk on the sporting history of Victoria Park. We learnt about the history of the racecourse, previously situated on the Park and enjoyed the humorous tale of the balloon Riot in 1864, where famous balloonist Henry Coxwell was attacked and his balloon destroyed by an angry crowd in Leicester!
Welford Road Cemetery Ghost Walk
Halloween saw the annual Ghost Walk at Welford Road Cemetery. We ran two tours this year to keep up with demand and were still fully booked! Forty people came to hear the spooky stories of those buried in the graveyard, with some jumping out of their skin with an unexpected appearance from Gravedigger Samuel Ginns. (Pictured right)
Sport & Recreation in Victoria Park
We’ve had some wonderful feedback so thank you to all that came; we look forward to running the event again next year!
October half term saw local students learn traditional metalworking skills to create designs for a new bench to celebrate the work of Lutyens – whose gates in Victoria Park are to be restored next year.
Story of Parks teamed up with the Royal Institute for British Architects to deliver an architecture workshop and design competition for the Year 6 pupils of Sparkenhoe Community Primary School. We had a fantastic morning, joined by teaching staff and 6 local architects who assisted pupils in building models of their designs of a modern memorial.
Metalworking Week
The bench will be finished over a few more sessions and should be present on Victoria Park in the near future.
Designs will be judged in the near future with the winning design hopefully built next year.
Architecture workshop
Story of Parks
What’s on!
This month will see the launch of ‘Our Parks’ – the oral history strand of the Story of Parks project. Two groups of volunteers have successfully been trained in how to record the memories of local people. There is still time to join and develop these skills if you would like to!
Lutyens in Leicester Talk Thursday 12th November 1 Salisbury Road, Leicester. 5.30pm Join us in our event to mark Remembrance Day this year and hear the fascinating history of the War Memorial situated in Victoria Park. Sir Edwin Lutyens designed the memorial along with the gates and park lodges on Victoria Park, as well as the Cenotaph at Whitehall, most recognisable for the televised annual remembrance service in London. Places are limited so please contact us to secure your free place.
Our Parks
We will be holding an induction towards the end of the month to get started. If you would like to join us, just let us know and you will be invited to the session.
Monday 3rd August 1-4pm University of Leicester
22nd October 2015 / 5.30pm-6.30pm
1 Salisbury Road, Leicester, LE1 7QR
Story of Parks
Volunteer Opportunities
We are very excited to share the news that Leicester Parks now has a Facebook page! This will be the main site which we post news of our events to, so please like the page to hear about our events first. https://www.facebook.com/LeicesterParks
Our Parks Story of Parks looks to tell the history of our local parks through the stories and memories of the local people who use them. To do this, we need a team of interviewers who will be fully trained in how to record memories of our parks. If you would like you get involved as a volunteer, or you or someone you know could provide memories – please get in touch.
Parks join Facebook!
Our current volunteer opportunities can be found on www.do-it.org by searching for ‘heritage’ in Leicester or by downloading our volunteer programme from www.storyofleicester.info/parks
Or contact: [email protected] 0116 4544935
Monday 3rd August 1-4pm University of Leicester
Story of Parks
Until next time…
As always, your support is very much appreciated. If you have any queries or even suggestions, please feel free to contact us.
Please like the new Facebook page to keep up to date with all things Parks!
We are always looking for people share
their memories, so if you or someone you know would like to share some, please get in touch.
Please share this newsletter amongst your friends and family. The more we can spread the news about what we are offering, the better!
Feel free to contact us if you have any
questions or an interest in becoming a volunteer.