New memorial bench to be unveiled at Picnic in the Park 2018

Following the success of this event last year, Saturday 4th August will see another ‘Picnic in the Park’ in the Countess of Chester Country Park between 11am and 3pm.

This year will celebrate the park’s recently awarded Green Flag status, and then at 1pm, there will be an official of opening the stunning memorial bench, which will commemorate the centenary of the end of World War 1, along with a nearly completed trail of carved poppies leading to the Upton War Memorial.

The bench and the poppies have been carved from a 100-year-old fallen cedar tree from Upton, which inspired the project name ‘Fallen for the Fallen’.  The ribbon will be cut by Steve Hughes from the Chester Super Trees project, who recently ran 100K in under 10 hours. This will be followed by a vote of thanks from Mike Farrell of the Armed Forces Charity SSAFA.

There will be a wide variety of interesting stalls and activities to suit all ages.  These will include Chester Zoo Safari Rangers, Friends of the Earth, a World War 1 Re-enactment group, Poppy Appeal stand, Keep Britain Tidy and Super Trees.  Paul Edwards of Ossum Carving, who carried out the carving of the bench and poppies, will be doing a live carving of a figure which he will then donate to the Country Park.  There will be junk drumming, a Nordic walking sampler, wildlife habitat activities and much more.

The park and the footpaths within it offer many opportunities to wander through wonderful green spaces right on the doorstep of Chester.  So pack up a picnic and bring it along, but don’t forget to leave a bit of space for an ice cream from the Hyacinth vintage ice cream van!

Morag Scargill, the Chair of the Friends Group for the Park said, “Over the last year we have worked hard to improve what the park has to offer and its been heartening to see so many more visitors. We hope that Picnic in the Park will encourage new people to discover it and enjoy it as much as we do.”

The park can be accessed from Countess Way opposite the Little Owl pub, as well as other access points scattered around its perimeter.  To supplement the normal car park, there will be additional spaces made available nearby, although it is very walkable from the north side of the city.  The Countess of Chester Country Park, which is owned by the Land Trust, is for everyone to enjoy and this is a free event.

Countess of Chester 2017 Picnic in the Park

Countess of Chester 2017 Picnic in the Park