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Young people FALL over themselves to restore
historic park feature
 Work to restore a Wigan beauty spot to its
former glory got underway on Saturday (May 19th)… for the second time.
Twelve young people from Worsley Mesnes, Pemberton and Norley Hall
braved bad weather throughout the day to begin restoration work on a
waterfall in Mesnes Park.
The Wigan Council Children & Young People’s Services Area 3B Action
Group teamed up with Friends of Mesnes Park to dredge the park’s pond
and to remove a substantial amount of litter from it to prepare it for
running water.
Last year, a group of Wigan youngsters and Friends of Mesnes Park
carried out similar work. However, the work had to be put on hold when
Wigan Council, in partnership with Wigan Leisure and Culture Trust, was
awarded a £124,000 development grant by the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF),
which is allowing the two organisations to move forward with plans for a
£2.9million transformation of the park.
Friends of Mesnes Park Treasurer Sue Turner explains: “We began
preparing the pond for the waterfall restoration last year. However, we
couldn’t complete the work as we had to make sure the waterfall fitted
in with the overall future plans for the park.
“However, the planners have now given us the go ahead to completely
restore the waterfall. Young and old came together this weekend and did
a tremendous amount of work, in what were at times torrential
conditions, towards that goal.
“There has been some instances of youths causing vandalism and problems
in the park recently but the effort the young people made on Saturday
shows that not everyone is the same, and sometimes people can forget
that.”
The Mesnes Park waterfall hasn’t worked properly for over eighty years.
The rockery by the duck pond was designed in the late 1800s by landscape
gardener James Pulham, using his own special artificial rock known as
Pulhamite.
It is believed that the waterfall was operated using water from Barley
Brook, whose course used to bisect the park, but it is thought to have
dried up some time in the 1920s.
The work to restore the feature is being funded by a £7000 grant from
the British Trust Conservation Volunteers. In addition to paying for the
pond clean up, the money will be used to re-point rock work,
landscaping, planting and fencing around the waterfall.
The planned £2.9million regeneration of Mesnes Park is likely to include
the restoration of other historic features such as the bandstand,
pavilion and entrance lodge, as well as new security measures and
lighting. Plans also involve the appointment of a dedicated Park Ranger
to look after the site, and for a wide range of activities for the local
community to get involved in.
The popular green space is a classic example of a Victorian urban park.
It was Wigan’s first municipal park and opened back in 1878 as a ‘green
lung’ for the industrial town. Today it receives around two million
visitors a year and plays host to an array of popular events including
the Wigan One World (WOW) Festival.
Notes to Editors
Photo attached
• Please find attached a photograph of the Children and Young People’s
Services Area 3B group who took part in the Mesnes Park pond clean up on
Saturday.
Further information
• For further information about this press release please telephone
Kennedy Stewart, Wigan Leisure and Culture Trust’s Young People’s Press
Officer, on (01942) 486927.
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