Hundred thanks... park gifted to city celebrates centenary

The businessman and philanthropist Christopher Pickering not only gave Hull 60 acres of land for a park, but also almshouses, a church, community hall and home for orphaned girls.

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

As people living around Pickering Park on Hessle Road, Hull, celebrated the 100th anniversary of the park this weekend, with a gala including vintage cars, Punch and Judy and a Victorian fair, a display at the city’s History Centre showcases Pickering’s many achievements.

Many of the features he 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 a determined band of supporters, the Friends of Pickering Park, are striving to make the most of the park in the future.

They have been working hard to secure funding for a new Adventure Zone for older children as well as restoring the park’s ornate gates, among a handful of architectural treasures in the city to have survived the Second World War.