Stoke-on-Trent Garden Festival
stokeontrent national garden festival second britain national garden festival held city may october opened queen preparation site involved reclamation land formerly occupied shelton bar steelworks – two mile northwest stokeontrent city centre hanley burslem british steel adjacent shelton bar steel rolling mill remained use finally closing one leading political force behind festival idea councillor cyril finney also pushed vital dual carriageway linking road festival site site reclamation cost £ million festival cost £ million reclaimers festival site contend highly contaminated mine shafted land still debate among environmental professional highquality cleanup accomplished short time community employment scheme ran alongside work around tree planted small team group comprising exsteelworkers knowing tree planted planted seemed time disarray later transpired method planting resulted planted woodland closely matched naturalgrowth woodland tree different type age growing alongside lengthy ft mm gauge railway built around ground five station equipment supplied firm severn lamb railway five station located around site engine shed repurposed disused british steel shed left site reclaimed located north end site four identical locomotive powered perkins diesel engine linde hydraulic transmission driving four wheel standard gauge track laid main entrance duty fell robert heath steam locomotive originally built resides foxfield railway blythe bridge staffordshire upon closure entire railway sold bygone village museum fleggburgh norfolk two locos track carriage resold safari park spain remaining two locos plus four carriage retained use fleggburgh locos received new steamoutline bodywork carriage rebuilt full door window set commemorative stamp issued nationally post office extremely rare dungeon dragon module garden path based festival site thirty copy known survived rpg adventurer travelled garden salamanderdriven steam train run gnome main retail site completed known festival park part sympathetically treated st modwen property took management development much parkland pool trail retained public open space maturing well garden moorland heather rock garden rocky valley survive planting scheme relatively intact although wooden structure left return nature festival park actively maintained groundsman sculpture large welsh slate water feature remain fullsize stone circle huge wooden suspension bridge across wooded ravine remains still used complex network path mazelike since signage easy get lost december suspension bridge closed repair currently used local wildlife photographer capture photo jay – brightly coloured member crow family bird seen day winter large retail park eastern side site – festival carpark public market area – merges lower reach city centre also large marina narrowboat along main road western edge site large water world indoor swimming complex skislope tenscreen odeon cinema tenpin bowling alley toboggan run festival park large fourstar hotel incorporates etruria hall former home josiah wedgwood thomas wedgwood next etruria hall headquarters north staffordshire chamber commerce numerous similar lowrise office nestle parkland around pool festival park groundwork uk created £ million cyclepath along bordering trent mersey canal part national cycle network northern tip site large complex festival greenhouse retained festival closed decade operated city council plant nursery since closed site earmarked small geothermal power station – feasibility tested via seismic test investigation festival sentinel newspaper office also built far west site large printing plant served newspaper northern england however sentinel newspaper moved site site passed online betting firm bet built major new purposebuilt hq april far western part site – including former steel rolling mill closed – proposed enterprise zone local enterprise partnership bid failed conform government guideline city council tried year later enterprise zone confirmed plan underway implementation enterprise zone onwards focus firm involved innovative material science highvalue design ceramic may west midland ambulance service ambulance hub based forge lane hub provides emergency ambulance cover north staffordshire site selected close proximity city centre close road link morley joan etruria jasper joist jillivers – history garden festival site creative common photo gallery remaining artwork site phototour circular cycleride grange park festival park