Waddington's Coronation Gardens Opened
A crowd of many hundreds of people saw the inauguration of Waddington’s celebrations on Saturday afternoon when the village’s stone-built Coronation Bridge spanning the Brook near the Old Hall was formally opened by Mr. John Watson, who has given the land for this beautiful new feature of the village. In an appropriate address Mr. Watson echoed a general feeling when he spoke of the real and lasting beauty of the new bridge and the garden, and of its delightful contribution to the amenities of the village. Mr. David Walmsley, then chairman of the Parish Council and of the Coronation Committee, expressed the villages thanks to Mr. Watson for gift “which will grow in beauty as the years go on”.
“I hope the future parish councils of the village will see to it that the ground we have laid out is maintained in keeping with its surroundings.” He said.
Mr. Walmsley also voiced his thanks to Mrs. Alice Coulthurst, secretary, and Mr. Robin Nelson, treasurer, for their enthusiastic services and to the many organisations, private residents and other members of the Committee for efforts which, during the past eight months, had realised a total of over £500.
Waddington’s Coronation Garden officially came into existence on 30th April 1953 when the land was conveyed to the Parish Council on condition that they accepted responsibility for its maintenance. The Watsons had bought the land with the Old Hall in 1950. House and gardens were then in a neglected state; the glories which the Waddingtons, the previous owners, had restored to the Hall at the beginning of the century, had faded when they were no longer in permanent residence. Birds took shelter in some of the bedrooms; children made the garden beyond the stream their playground. There was no hedge to exclude them from the wilderness of rhododendrons and tall grasses. “We fixed swings on the trees and hid there or pretended to be Tarzan. We made pipes from bamboo shoots and smoked tea- leaves or, using elderberries, armed ourselves with Mike-do pea-shooters”, said a former resident.
With a sufficiently large garden round the Hall itself the Watsons found maintenance of the land across the stream something of a problem. The solution was found in offering it to the village in return for its upkeep.
The offer came at an opportune moment and was readily accepted. The village, elated by the success of their Festival of Britain festivities in the previous year, were considering some way of celebrating the Queen’s Coronation. ‘Some lasting memento’ of the event was sought. A garden created out of a wilderness with a stone bridge instead of the old rustic bridge which had already fallen to pieces could hardly be improved upon.
The idea of a garden was not new. The Waddingtons who had given land as the site for the Cenotaph (1921) had laid out the adjacent land as a garden. They passed through this on the way to church by a small gate opposite the main entrance to the Hall. A path led to the wooden bridge and then through bushes and trees to the far corner to steps up to the churchyard. After the second World War what became known as the Memorial Garden was donated to the village. The sundial placed there bears this inscription.
This garden is in remembrance of those brave men of this village who fell in the two world wars. In August 1952, a committee made up of members of the Parish Council and representatives of the village, was set up to design the Coronation Garden on the far side of the stream. With hard work and enthusiasm, in less than a year they succeeded in creating and in paying for it.
The first income was a donation of nearly £20 from the retiring Festival Committee. A whist-domino drive and dance were organised to raise funds. Other plans were made, partly to celebrate the coronation. The Committee proposed a United Service, a procession, exhibition, bonfire, something for the Old Aged Pensioners and suitable mementos for the children.
Within a fortnight there was a draft design for the bridge, estimated cost, along with two benches which were to be donated by the Council, £350. By September the coronation celebrations were well under way.
It was agreed that a subscription list should be opened and every house circularised with the object of raising £450 to £500. All organisations in the village were to be asked to support the scheme. More whist drives, with or without dances and potato pie suppers were held. In November, Robert Southworth was asked to build the bridge; Bob Hanson and Joe Jackson carried out the work. Their names, along with those of two other builders, were placed in an envelope with coronation coins in one of the pillars.
Prolonged discussions as to the design of the garden took place. Eventually Mrs. Rushton of Colthurst drew up a plan and Mr. Milne-Redhead, landscape gardener of Holden Clough, winner of a number of awards at Southport Flower Show, laid out the beds, lawns, paths, and the banking on the far side of the stream.
While the bridge was being built and the garden laid out the collection of subscriptions began. A Jumble Sale and a drama effort brought in money to add to the donations from the Badminton Club and the Mothers’ Union. Yet another whist drive – ‘a monster’ – was arranged. There were sports and tea for the young, tea and an entertainment for the elderly. Further donations came from the Reading Room and the Ladies’ Fellowship bringing the total to £300. By March the inscription on the bridge – E II R 1953 – was decided upon; villagers were invited to buy shrubs for the garden and to a Coffee Evening.
Mr. Waddington gave money for a gate in memory of this wife. Arrangements for this gate, the main entrance to the garden, and for the railings, were left to Mr. Southworth. Mr. Watson gave four benches and was asked to open the bridge on Saturday 30th May at 2.00pm before the sports. The Vicar appealed for help with the bonfire; the Rushtons opened their garden to the public; the Masonic Lodge gave £20; balance in hand 4th May £443 – 5 – 1½; 18th May £534 – 10 – 7½. Total expenditure amounted to £615; receipts £582 – 1 – 2. The deficit occurred as Mr. Milne-Redhead’s bill was £90 more than the original quotation as extra work had been done; the deficit was soon made up.
As 30th May approached the men were asked to straighten up the garden; the rooks which were proving a nuisance were left to the Vicar and Mr. Pye. After the opening, the Committee, well satisfied with their work, thanked all who helped in any way to make celebrations a success. They decision to have their own celebration – a dinner at The Moorcock for Committee members and friends in September.
Once the Gardens were established and open to the public the question of maintenance arose. For a few months there was a caretaker. In November 1954 there was a discussion as to whether the work should be voluntary or the onus of payment put on the rates. Mr. Watson preferred the latter and was prepared to contribute £5 per year, but it was decided, by vote, that maintenance should be a voluntary effort. It fell to committee members to do much of the work; there was much to be done. Tools – spades, a lawn-mower, shears, wheel-barrow – were needed; plants and shrubs had to be bought along with fertilisers and insecticides. The privet hedge needed extending to the entrance gate; grass cutting, hedge cutting, pruning, sweeping, all called for attention at frequent intervals. Two thousand daffodil bulbs needed planting and the celandines were ‘an immediate worry’.
Some of the work called for specialist knowledge. In April 1960 Fred Loads of Burnley was asked to come and give his expert advice. He came a fortnight later and for 3 guineas (passed on the Blackburn Orphanage) gave Waddington the benefit of his knowledge. The Committee soon met to consider the best ways of carrying out his advice. They discussed the making of more flower beds but, daunted perhaps by the prospect of the work involved, left the matter in abeyance. They would have liked more bulbs but there was no one available to plant them. It was fast becoming obvious that the Committee alone could not carry out all the necessary work.
A notice was put up in Mr. Herd’s shop window asking for volunteers. By 1957 help with grass cutting was being paid for at the rate of 3/- per hour; and £1 a day per week was paid for labour. When, in 1968, not enough voluntary help was available it was decided to get a regular paid helper, if possible. As “30/- a week is more than we can afford to pay” prospects of getting a gardener were not good. Eventually, Mr. Moore was offered £30 a year to work in his own time. In 1970, Conservation Year, the W.I. did one week’s work in the Gardens. Four years later a Mr. Kay was paid to visit the Gardens and report on what needed doing. Subsequently he was paid £100 for the extensive pruning of the back shrubbery; great satisfaction was expressed with his work. Paid labour was becoming more and more expensive. In 1984 there was a gloomy report from the treasurer about the rate of pay – £2.50 per hour for a trained gardener. It came as something of a shock when it was realised that £425.65 had been spent on labour during the year. £300 was fixed as the future limit.
All these expenses gave rise to the question how the money was to be raised. One member of the committee ‘suggested at great length seven different ways of raising money for the gardens’, but the details were not recorded in the minutes. Instead, the Committee resorted to an annual fund-raising effort, gift days and a collecting box.
The first fund-raiser was a Bring and Buy Sale with refreshments in the grounds of the Old Hall; later, there were even more successful. The financial report in 1989 was ‘so healthy’ that one was not considered necessary in that year.
It had been suggested in 1955 that a Coronation Garden Gift Day should be held. The first one raised over £54. Three years later a Sunday collection was added; it brought in only a quarter of the Sunday total. By 1978 over £100 was collected on the two gift days; by 1987 the amount had doubled. The streamer announcing Gift Day is still put out each year.
An early suggestion that collection boxes should be placed in the gardens was rejected. It was not until 1987 that a box was placed there and in three months over £100 had been donated. It was decided to keep the box there permanently. Others had a different idea; the box was stolen. However, thanks to the Post Office, Waddington Fell Quarries and Peter Greenwood a box which attracts much interest and donations was installed in 1991.
From time to time other donations have been given. When Thwaites hired a TV company to make a film of the Higher Buck they gave £5 as some filming had taken place in the Gardens. Others have followed their example. When Waddington became ‘The Television Village’ in 1991 the Gardens benefitted by £150. Beginning with a donation of £5 towards the upkeep of the Gardens the Parish Council steadily increased this to an annual payment of £75’ their financial support continued until 1989. They helped in other ways. In 1967 they supplied more seats, treated them with preservatives and put them under cover for winter. Having first hesitated to ask for litter baskets – the Committee believed ‘there is not much litter left about usually’ – the Council were eventually asked for and provided baskets. They also helped with Christmas Lights – the yew tree was first lit up in 1961 – and saw to the painting of the railings.
In turn the Council were prepared to approach the Gardens Committee with requests. In 1960 ‘they drew the attention of the Committee tot eh great need for Public Conveniences in the village and wished to know if the members would accept a suitable building being erected in the gardens’. Informed such a building would spoil the pleasure of the gardens, the Parish Council looked elsewhere for a site.
The People Involved
On the retirement of David Walmsley I 1961, James Herd, organiser of many whist drives and entertainments, became chairman. He spent hours in the gardens – seemingly more time than he spent in the shop. Harry Banks and Robin Nelson both had remarkable records. Harry Banks represented the Parish Council on the Committee until 1977 and remained a member for a further six years. The latter was treasurer for thirty-four years. He also helped with the lights, stored tools and equipment in his own garage and arranged for new owners – the Keatings – to do the same. At the time of the Queen’s Silver Jubilee, a bird-bath was placed in the Gardens to mark the occasion’ Robin provided a suitable base and attended to the work.
Mary Dugdale and Dora Peace between them held the office of secretary for thirty years; Stanley Taylor was committee member and chairman for twenty.
At one time some members considered their role was Management – contact with the soil not required; others were ‘the real gardeners’. One such was Ken Holding, who fixed the lights, cut the grass, weeded the borders and was always at hand when help was needed. Two other stalwart workers, especially at the time of the fortieth anniversary of the Gardens, were Bob Fisher and John Herd. For this occasion beds of red, white and blue flowers were planted. Thanks to the generosity of Mr. and Mrs. Warburton, the Committee was able to give a Cheese and Wine party at the Old Hall to thank the village for its support.
A complete list of all workers in the Gardens would be too long to give here. Amongst the keenest were Margaret Bishop, Emma Harrison and Hilda Smith who were to be seen working in the Gardens most summer afternoons. Margaret believed in talking to the plants. ‘Now, come,’ she urged, ; you’ve got to brighten your ideas up or you and I will part company.’ Emma and Hilda did much to ensure Waddington’s success in the county’s ‘Best Kept Village Competition’. In 1985 the village won the Champions class in the competition for the third time; and against thirty-nine other entries, the Gardens were awarded a runner-up prize in the Special Features section and third prize in the national contest ‘Britain in Bloom’. The judge, Frank Mellor, presented the village with the Champion’s rose bowl and a garden seat.
In view of the these successes Lancashire Magazine thought it worthwhile to visit Waddington and interview some of those concerned, including Mrs. Bernice Barlow, Chairman of the Gardens Committee, and Mr. Eric Edmondson, Chairman of the Parish Council. They spoke to Emma Harrison ‘whose work for the gardens is a labour of love although next summer she is planning on retiring’; ‘I haven’t been able to get down to the brook to weed it as I would have liked.’ (She had fractured her leg earlier in the year.)
The gardening achievements in 1985 ‘were all the more remarkable as it had been one of the worst summers for years…gardens all took a battering’. Ten years later history repeated itself. Through the summer of 1995 was unquestionably the worst for years the Gardens won a Highly Commended Award and narrowly missed retaining the Pendle Shield won in 1994. There were other awards. They won a Certificate of Merit in 1978 and were winners in 1979 , 1981, 1983 and 1984.
The Gardens are anow a well-established feature of village life. The work done mainly by volunteers through grass cutting, tree felling and pruning are paid for. Thanks to the generosity of villagers and visitors there is sufficient money to pay for this work and for new plants and shrubs. Some trees and shrubs have been given as memorials; other gifts have been sent as were the tulip bulbs sent by admiring visitors from Spalding.
Those who work in the Gardens find the pleasure they give to visitors their reward. ‘I come every year from Whalley,’ said one visitor. ‘But you have gardens in Whalley,’ he was told. ‘Yes,’ he said, ‘but these are special’.
Mary Bridge, 1996 – Reproduced with the kind permission of her family.
Read more about the history of Waddington in ‘Village Life in the Nineteenth Century’ by Mary Bridge ISBN 10: 1859360009ISBN 13: 9781859360002
The village acknowledges with gratitude the debt owed to those who gave the land, those who created the Gardens and those who have cared for them.
While the stream continues to flow through the Gardens may people continue to work there, while others enjoy the results of their labour.“