Newsletter

October 2015

Story of Parks

Hello Again!

A big welcome as always to new readers this month! October is upon us, and this means a new public talk and the annual Halloween ghost walk at Welford Road Cemetery! We re-cap on the great events from September, which have kicked us off to a very positive start! And we invite anyone interested to come to our next free training session at the end of the month. We hope to see some of you at our various events this month!

Story of Parks

What’s been happening? The 17th of September saw the

anniversary of the historic WW2 Operation Market Garden which took place in 1944. It was also the date of our talk about the operation and the 82nd Airborne connection to Braunstone Park by local historian Adam Berry. The event was fully booked, filling the room to its brim! It was fantastic to see such a wonderful turn out and again so much positive feedback.

Heritage Open Days Story of Parks once again took part in the national Heritage Opens days which sees places of historical interest open for free or create a special experience. We ran two ‘Historic Victoria Park’ tours thanks to Blue Badge guide Steve Bruce, who told the chronological tale of the parks’ history. We’ve had some wonderful feedback so thank you to all that came; your feedback is much valued.

Operation Market Garden Talk

Story of Parks

What’s on!

During October half term you may see the appearance of a mobile forge and metal workers on Victoria Park. In celebration of the Park Gates which will be restored as part of the project, we will be leading sessions with a local college students to create a new piece of metal work based on the original Lutyens designs.

Oral History Training Thursday 29th October 1 Salisbury Road, Leicester. 1-4pm After a fully booked first session, we are running another for those interested in volunteering with our new project ‘Our Parks’ or indeed interested generally in how to record the memories of others. The session will include all the basics of oral history, including: how memory works, what questions to ask and how to ask them, how to use equipment, how to transcribe and how to edit. Places are limited so please contact us to secure your free place.

Metalworking Forge

Pop along if you would like to see the group at work – you may even have the chance to have a small go yourself!

Monday 3rd August 1-4pm University of Leicester

Join us this Halloween, to walk amongst the graves of the

unfortunates buried in Leicester’s oldest Victorian cemetery, learning

gruesome tales of murder, freak accidental deaths and suicides along the way.

Those brave enough must meet at the Visitor Centre, just inside the

entrance on Welford Road on Saturday 31st October at 7pm. Suitable clothing, torches and strong nerves are recommended.

This event is not suitable for children under 8 years old.

This is a free event, although booking is required.

Please telephone 0116 4544935 or email

storyofparks@leicester.gov.uk to book your place.

Monday 3rd August 1-4pm University of Leicester

22nd October 2015 / 5.30pm-6.30pm

1 Salisbury Road, Leicester, LE1 7QR

Story of Parks

Volunteer Opportunities

We need a small group of event assistants to help us set up the Halloween Ghost Walk at Welford Road Cemetery. You will need to be free on the evening of Saturday 31st October to help set up the walking route and may be asked to help escort visitors by torchlight. Get in touch if you’d like to help!

Our Parks Story of Parks looks to tell the history of our local parks through the stories and memories of the local people who use them. To do this, we need a team of interviewers who will be fully trained in how to record memories of our parks. If you would like you get involved as a volunteer, or you or someone you know could provide memories – please get in touch.

Event Assistants

Our current volunteer opportunities can be found on www.do-it.org by searching for ‘heritage’ in Leicester or by downloading our volunteer programme from www.storyofleicester.info/parks

For more information about any of these projects or if you would like to volunteer, please contact us. storyofparks@leicester.gov.uk 0116 4544935

Monday 3rd August 1-4pm University of Leicester

Story of Parks

Until next time…

As always, your support is very much appreciated. If you have any queries or even suggestions, please feel free to contact us.

We hope to see some of you at our next public talk and perhaps even our Ghost Walk!

We are always looking for people share

their memories, so if you or someone you know would like to share some, please get in touch.

Please share this newsletter amongst your friends and family. The more we can spread the news about what we are offering, the better!

Feel free to contact us if you have any

questions or an interest in becoming a volunteer.

storyofparks@leicester.gov.uk