Park campaigners seek public help to restore historic gates

SUPPORTERS of one of Hull’s oldest parks are renewing efforts in their centenary year to raise money to restore its original gates.

The wrought iron gates – which were considered so special that they survived the Second World War intact – could eventually fall apart. They weigh around two tonnes each and have not been opened for years.

The Friends of Pickering Park failed in their bid to the Heritage Lottery Fund for £146,000 needed for their overhaul – but they have now been promised £7,000 from the Pilgrim Trust and are waiting the result of a bid to another body for £10,000 to £15,000.

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Meanwhile they hope contributions from the public will swell their coffers.

Treasurer Tony Ryan will be at the gates this weekend giving out leaflets and asking for donations. He says if everyone in Hull gave £1 there would be more than enough for their restoration.

The 60-acre park is a legacy of the businessman and philanthropist Christopher Pickering who also gave Hull almshouses, a church, community hall and home for orphaned girls.

The gates were described in the Pevsner Architectural Guide to Hull by historians Susan and David Neave as “probably the finest set of wrought and cast iron entrance gates in Hull”.

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Mr Ryan, who teaches psychology at Wilberforce College, said: “Christopher Pickering put up £1000 in 1911.

“The council put in £260 additionally and that was the cost for them to be designed, installed and fixed.

“The gates are not in danger but if nothing is done in the next couple of years I don’t think these gates will survive. They will rust away slowly.

“They weigh two tonnes each which is why they are not opened.

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“We have already had bits and pieces removed as they are a danger to the public.

“It will only be a matter of time, in my humble opinion, before they rot away which would be a shame as they are the most beautiful gates in Hull.”

He said: “I’m going to be at the gates between 10am and 4pm on Saturday and Sunday. There are 250,000 people in Hull. If everyone gave me a quid there would be more than enough to fix the gates.”

The Friends – who came together in 2007 – are also working to secure funding for a new adventure zone for older children.

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Last month they held a gala to celebrate the park’s centenary, including vintage cars, Punch and Judy and a Victorian fair and a display at the city’s History Centre showcasing Pickering’s many achievements.

The archetypal Victorian self-made man, Christopher Pickering’s life was a true rags-to-riches story.

The son of a tailor, he made his way from being fish curer, to merchant and then ship owner, making a fortune by building up a fleet of sailing smacks, by teaming up with a man called Haldane.

Recognising the future lay in steam, he sold the sailing ships in Europe to buy steam trawlers, ending up owning Pickering & Haldane’s Steam Trawling Co, Pickering, Haldane & Co fish and ice merchants, as well as being chair of several fishing and allied firms.

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In Hornsea, where he lived for 30 years, residents benefited from his generosity – at one point he paid for drinking wells to give them a safe supply of water.

Many of the features Pickering would have been familiar with in the park, including the Pergola Bridge, brick and wood shelters thatched in Norfolk reed and the bandstand have long since disappeared. But his name lives on in the Park, a home for the elderly Christopher Pickering Lodge and the Pickering council ward.

Between 1939 and 1945, many iron railings round the city were taken down and scrapped to help the War effort.

But the gates of the Park were considered “too important.”

It is possible to join the campaign online – at www.friendsofpickeringpark.org.uk/park/gate.