Darlington Blog from South Terrace: Pocket Park

Thursday, 20 November 2014

Pocket Park - an ongoing success story

Our neighbourhood pocket park, the Gerald Lee Pocket Park, rose from the obscurity of a patch of weeds under a billboard to becoming one of the most desired and decorated ventures of 2014.

From this

Via this

To this

For those that missed the history, here are our earlier postings:

2nd May 2014: initial proposals for the park
21 May 2014: prelude to the big dig

7 June 2014: the big dig, undertaken exclusively by South Terrace residents and their families

18 June 2014: prelude to the big plant - with the Mayor, Amanda and the children
21 June 2014: the big plant - combining South Terrace residents, Friends of the Earth Darlington and Guerilla Gardeners Darlington

23 June 2014: nearly the finale

4 August 2014: the grand opening by the Mayor, Councillor Gerald Lee and the Mayoress, Mrs Lee

On 28 July 2014 the Daily Mail featured the park. The Grand Opening on 29 July 2014 was clearly a massive success, both for the park and the people involved, as reported by the Northern Echo on 30 July 2014 (click here and here to see the videos).

By 12 September 2014 the pocket park was voted category winner in the Darlington Garden Contest, with the award ceremony at Darlington Town Hall on 2 October 2014, award being received by Kendra Ullyart and Peter Plant.

Success did not end there. Despite political controversy, following assessment on 5 September 2014 when the leader of the council questioned the naming of the pocket park, the park went on to gain an 'Outstanding' Award from the Royal Horticultural Society and Northumbria in Bloom in the 'It's Your Neighbourhood' ceremony, with a presentation to Councillor Paul Harman on 18 November 2014 in the Legends lounge in Middlesbrough Football Stadium.

The park shows the ability of a local community to make a difference. What awaits us in 2015? Well, lots more fun in the park, we hope!

Councillor Paul Harman, receiving our RHS 'Outstanding' category Award

Monday, 4 August 2014

Gerald Lee Pocket Park - the formal opening by the Mayor

It started life as a crazy idea.

When Councillor Paul Harman proposed that we turn a scrap of land below a billboard into a garden, we looked at him with disbelief. The plot was next to one of Darlington's busiest roads, is north facing, and shielded from the sun by a huge poster, had never been cultivated and was full of couch grass and weeds.

But Paul Harman is both imaginative and persuasive, and he would not take 'no' for an answer. So, in early Spring, the journey to make Britain's Smallest Park commenced.

In the early stages of the project, it was not known who owned the plot. Most enquiries received rather hurried denials. A letter to J C Decaux however produced an encouraging response from their surveyor Harry Read in Chapel Street, London. Yes, they owned both billboard and site, and certainly we could negotiate a licence for a community garden.

Permission granted, our next task was to mobilise our local community. Amanda Llewellyn agreed to head the team and we set about arranging our three key dates, 'The Big Dig', 'The Big Plant', and the 'Open Day'. Key to this was the active support of the South Terrace Residents Group. To this band we added Darlington Friends of the Earth, led by garden designers Kendra Ullyart and Matthew Snedker, and the little known Darlington Guerilla Gardeners - a clandestine, after night-fall group of planters and seeders.

The last question was what to name the park? Paul Harman slipped back from the task, telling us that this had to be a community decision, but that 'Harman Park' was certainly not on the agenda. Victoria Park was suggested, but met with yawning silence. Things changed when a small voice from the back of the room uttered the words, "what about Gerald Lee Pocket Park after the Litter Tsar?" A buzz went round the room and the discussion closed with this inspired choice.

The rest of our planning has ascended into folk history. As the community transformed the plot, Darlington awoke to new developments and even controversy. Litchfield council remained tight-lipped as their smallest park in Britain - Prince's Park - lost it's mantel.

So here are the photos of the Open Day. Our heartfelt thanks go to the residents who have given so much time and perspiration, Friends of the Earth for their support and guidance, JJ Blair & Sons (Covered Market) and Sainsburys Super Store for donating plants, Woodburn Nursery for huge support, including infrastructure and plants, Peter Plant, Matthew Snedker and Kendra Ullyart for technical advice and days of hard work. On the day, our thanks to Cockerton Vintage Brass Band who played beautifully, CPT Accountants and Business Advisers - and of course The Worshipful, the Mayor of Darlington Gerald Lee and Mrs Ruth Lee who acted as our inspiration for the project.