Hale Park Gets A Green Flag

About a month and a half ago,, Green Flag inspectors/judges visited Hale Park to see if it was worthy of a Green Flag Award.  Recently the park was refurbished, with a grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund and the refurbishment finished ahead of schedule.

It was announced last week, that the park was successful in obtaining a green flag award, straight after it’s refurbishment!

On Friday 21st August an official opening ceremony will take place at 11.00am during the morning, the Mayor of Halton will be officiating at the ceremony and representatives of the main funding organisations will be present.

Public Access To Hale Woods

The below item has been forwarded to the village website from local villager Mr R. Brown of Church Road,, for inclusion on the Blog.

“Dear William.  I refer to your blog article headed “All White” which
appears on the Hale Village website dated 13th July 2009 and which was
stimulated and guided by Messrs Smiths Gore, the Land Agents acting on
behalf of Hale Park Estates.  Thank you very much for bringing to our
notice their stated intention of closing off public access to a number
of areas of land in the village which residents of Hale have enjoyed as
of right for at least the last 30 years.  I would like to take particular
issue with two items mentioned in your contribution to the blog:-
Firstly, your (or Smith Gore’s) use of the term “trespass” in
describing the actions of walkers using the path across estate land
from Queen’s Walk (Church End) to the cricket field would only be true
if those walkers strayed from a right of way across that land. There
would be no question of trespass if the walkers were merely using a
public right of way which had been established across that land.
Secondl!  I would dispute most robustly your/their assertion that the
pathway through the Ice House Woods is a “permissive footpath.”  For
that to be the case there ought to be some record of an agreement
between the landowner and the local highways authority that a
permissive path had been expressly dedicated in that location AND there
should have been signs indicating that the public’s right of access to
this path existed only with the permission of the landowner and that it
was not intended to be a right of way.  No such notices have ever been
in place on that path.  In fact the only notices which had recently
been put in place were headed “KEEP OUT” – hardly representative of
permission!  I think the key point in your estate-inspired article is
that  “as time has gone by, people/walkers etc have taken it upon
themselves to walk where they want!?”  Recollections by older villagers
that the “estate had several gates on site, especially at the end of
the drive!
near the old hall” and references to the situation that per!
tained on the estate lands in the 1950s and 1960s are not relevant.  What
matters in terms of the current legal status of these and other well
used footpaths is what has happened in the past 20 years.  Mrs Evans’
whistle may have blown occasionally forty or fifty years ago, but ever
since then, until now, no signs, gates or fences have been maintained,
and thus we the people have walked the paths of the abandoned Hale Hall
park and gardens without hindrance or permission.It is my contention
that these footpaths have been used continuously and as of right, for
at least the last 20 year,  by hundreds of walkers with the acquiesence
not the permission of the landowners.  As such the paths have gained
the status of dedicated rights of way, based upon their uninterrupted
usage and the landowners’ acquiesence.  I now intend to try to protect
our right to continue using these footpaths and to establish their
legal status by applying to have them added to the local definitive map
of rights of way in Halton.  I would be very grateful to hear from
anyone who could support the case by providing a written statement of
their own regular use of these footpaths at any time during the last 20
years.

Roger Brown

Church Road,   Hale

29th July 2009″

Interesting?

For  the last week or so I have been tidying up some of my cd’s and checking what was on them,, they are a sort of archive and collection over the last 3 years of images and bits n’ bobs people have sent me for the village website.

Flicking through one cd of images (thanks Angela), I noticed on an old programme from a Hale Carnival of 1967,, that the Carnival, or Fete as it was then known, actually did’t take place in the park, as it was then a cow field used by Home Farm for grazing their milk herd, but in fact the location of the Fete was the Cricket Pitch!?  Also,, in several paper cut outs from the local rag at the time (1967),, it stated that the Carnival/Fete had, had a 10 year gap, so this would take the Carnival back to 1957 when the last one took place, up until 1967 when it was re-instated!?

I would guess,, that the Carnival/Fete would not have started in the park as we know it, up until Arnold Cox and Willy Howell commissioned the pocket of land for public use in or around 1972/1974 (the date is on the old notice/bylaws board on the left as you go in the park).  I can remember myself going to the carnival in the mid 1970s in the park as it was then, even then, at times, I can remember home farm cutting the grass in the park for silage!?  In fact the park, was not know as Hale Park by local villagers,, but “The Park”

It was interesting to see, on this old carnival programme,, the  late Bernard Webb was infact the chairman of the carnival committee along with Ken Owen (the town cryer) and Robert English-from up Church Road!

Asking (Blackie) my unle Bill what went on, he said,, “the floates were horse’ n cart” , “sometimes the fete would be in the village too”, “to get to the cricket pitch they would open the park gate and go along the track to the cricket, sometimes the cows would be either getting milked so they wouldn’t be in the way- or they would shoo them off so the procession/fete could get to the cricket as it came from Houghton Towers opposite Burnses Farm” He said,, “everyone would be outin the village and down the cricket”.  He then rattled off (as per usual) more memories and anicdotes about the park than what my fingers could keep up with and type on here..  So that will do for another day!

Looking at the carnival/fete programme,, it has simple events on it, such as throwing/tossing the bail(of straw), tug of war, sack race and a dog show.  All simple events along with side shows where locals got involved and enjoyed the day as a local village community!

Once the day was over,, the field and cricket pitch would return to their normal daily use, either playing cricket or allowing  the cows back on to keep the grass down!

I have an image of the park, possibly dated around the late 50s to  early 60s, of cows grazing near the drive, once one zooms in to the the center of it,, you can see a young lad rounding up the cows and herding them in the home farm direction, for milking possibly.  He has shorts on and has a stick in one hand-possibly blondish hair.  If anyone has an idea whom it may be at the time,, please let me know,, it would be interesting to put a name to this little chap?

Thank You, Anthony!

The following entry in the Blog comes courtesy of local villager Mrs C. Hatton, who, with her grand daughter and many others, attended the Bug Hunt on Sunday 26th, in Hale Park.

“I would like to thank Anthony, our Village Heritage Champion, for the most interesting and enjoyable nature trail around the park on Sunday.   The children learned a lot about the various insects found in the trees and on the ground, and also spotted frogs, toads, bees butterflies, birds, etc. The time passed very quickly and even a little rain did not put us off. The “goody bags” given out at the end were very much appreciated by the children. My granddaughter is a keen fan of “The Green Balloon Club” TV programme that promotes these local events and Im sure that she and all the children who joined in will now also be more aware of what can be found around us.  Thanks again Anthony”

Vandalised Benches

I was surprised and saddened,, when visiting the park yesterday (Friday 24th July), to see the two expensive park benches over in the corner by the Saw Pit Wood, had both been vandalised!