Park celebrates centenary

Residents came out in their droves to play bowls, listen to the bands and have a guided wildlife tour at the centenary celebration party at Stafford’s showpiece town centre park.

Victoria Park bustled with people, both old and young, during the celebrations and events hosted by Friends of Victoria Park yesterday.

Sir Graham Balfour School band and Rugeley Power Station Band performed from the bandstand to a captive audience on park benches while 24 bowls teams from across Stafford district played on the green for the Centenary Shield in the first-ever Victoria Leisure Ground Centenary Bowls Tournament. The tournament was organised by David Hulme and the Stafford and District Bowls League and it is hoped will become an annual event.

The wildlife tour was run by Staffordshire Wildlife Trust.

Brian Russell, chairman of the Friends of Victoria Park, said: “It’s gone very well. We’ve had a lot of help from the park ranger staff and the bowls league. It’s run smoothly and everything we’ve organised seems to have been popular.

“The park was opened in 1908 and it still has some of the atmosphere and remnants of the Edwardian period but we have to make it work in the 21st century too. Today’s events and our work in general are a balancing act to keep the park’s original features and provide things that are relevant today.”

A skate park for the teenagers of the town is one of the plans the group will be lobbying for in the future.

Anne Mace, aged 65, from Stafford, was one of the bowls competitors at the event. She said: “It’s been a nice day and there’s been a good turnout. The bowls are being played in a friendly way and it was very well-organised.”