The finished work on the path and benches, September
2007
The Northenden Riverside Park in Manchester is sited on the banks of the
River Mersey between Palatine Road Bridge and the Tatton Arms Bridge. (Lat 53
24'36.40"N Long 2 15'14.59"W, OS Map Ref SJ832902, Google Earth Placemark to download)
The Friends Group aims to support a wider use of the site and to enhance
the Park for the benefit of the whole community by being involved in the
installation of educational and environmental facilities.
Riverside Park Friends Group Calendar as a Google Calendar
Riverside Park Image Gallery
The aims of the Friends Group, taken from our constitution, are:
- To promote the wide usership of the park
- To enhance the park area for the benefit of the whole community
- To improve the recreational, environmental and educational facilities
of the park
- To raise funds to support the work of the Friends of Northenden
Riverside Park.
We are making suggestions and offering opinions about the developments of
the park as it progresses. It is a chance for park users who live locally to
influence the decisions that are made by the Council and how money is
spent.
Current News
AGM at St Wilfrid's Church Hall, Thursday 16th June at 7.30pm
Come and join the Friends Group at our AGM. We will choose a new committee and talk about our hopes for future developments and events in the Park. You can download the Agenda for the AGM .
Lunch at the Park
Despite it being a grey, and slightly drizzly, day there were quite a number of us who gathered last Sunday, 5th July, to picnic and chat. Amy had organised face painting, which went well, and the Northenden Civic Society and the Allotment Society set their stalls out. We all enjoyed ourselves.
New notice boards
If you have been to the Park recently you will have seen the new notcie board. There is also one located on the shopping parade on Palatine Road. Everyone hopes that these will help us all to be aware of the many groups and activities which go on in Northenden.
New play areas at the park!
In the last few weeks (as of March 2011!) users of the park will have seen a rearrangement of large stones into a clambering area for children, and a wooden train engine has been placed in the main play area. Both of these have become a great attraction for younger children as these photos show!
The arranged boulders and users!
Engine and driver!
Gradually we hope, with the support of the council, to continue to improve our park!
Environment Agency Site and River Levels
The Environment Agency some months ago started to show river level data on their website so that one can now see the level at the weir in Northenden without leaving home!.
The heron sculpture
View of the sculpture on the bank above the car park
The sculpture is now a year old, and it is still an imposing and attractive feature of the park.
The heron sculpture in late afternoon sun
Historical Displays and Events!
The archaeological dig on the car park!
Some years ago a project by Dig Manchester excavated the site of the old corn mill where the car park is now. Two lecterns giving much information about the dig and other information about the mill have recently (Feb 2011) been place on the park.
A very much reduced copy of one of the boards!
You can look at and read the full-sized pdf versions of the 2 lecterns on your computer. Each of the files is about 2Mb!
Lectern 1
Lectern 2
Oral History Project
After quite a lot of fascinating work interviewing many people about their memories, we created a display showing some quotes from the oral testimonies we gathered combined with historical photos!
These were used at the Open Heritage day last September, 2010, and we hope to do something a little more permanent with these! They were shown off at the Northenden Civic Society at the market last yesterday (2nd March 2011).
We also, with help from many people, created a brief play showing some curious and interesting events around the area! This proved to be great fun on the day. We did make an amateur video of the performance which we will try to edit so that it can be seen as a DVD.
If you want more information about our project contact any member of the Friends Group committee or contact
Dave Wilson, 21a Boat Lane, M22 4HR; 0161 902 9550 or email;
history@northendenriversidepark.org.uk
Boating, and a bit more history!
Many people in Northenden are well aware that up until the 1960s there were rowing boats for hire on the river just above the Tatton Arms foot bridge. There is a delightful picture on the Northenden Past website (click on number 9) showing what could be a sunny sunday or bank holiday. There are also lots of images in the Manchester Library Local Image
Collection (Search for Mersey and Northenden).
A locally based company has started to make canoes available for hire to be used to make trips down the river. It is based a few miles upstream of Northenden at the Burnage Rugby Club in Heaton Mersey and the canoes, both open canoes and sit-on tops, can be used to make trips down the river.
For more details look at their website Messing about on the Mersey. This looks like a fun thing to do, on a sunny, warm day.
Walking Maps of the local area
The Mersey Valley Warden Service, whose site is well worth a visit anyway, have recently produced walking maps, which are available to download as pdfs, showing several well known and popular areas in the area. These include Stenner Woods and Millgate area near Fletcher Moss in Didsbury, and Chorlton Water Park and Kenworthy Woods, Both of which are very close to the Riverside Park and very popular walks from Northenden. Slightly further downstream they also have maps of Sale Water park and Chorlton Ees.
In a separate development the Northenden Civic Society was given a small council grant to create a map showing walking and cycling routes of Northenden and it surrounding area. Although delayed, the work on this has continued and is near to fruition (March 2011). This map should link in well with the Mersey Valley maps and help to remind us all of how much there is to admire and to appreciate in our locality, starting, of course, with the Riverside Park!
Northenden Civic society
Northenden Civic Society has a recently established website.
At present it looks very much like the start of something which could become very informative about the community and events in Northenden. Best wishes to all who are involved in its establishment and development.
Last Year's AGM 2010
Thursday 10June 2010 at St Wilfrid's Church Hall
This was well attended and interesting. You can look at the minutes of last year's AGM if you wish. Soon, we will be starting to plan for the 2011 AGM.
Future Plans
Now that the first phases have been completed we intend to get involved
with:
- working parties
- encouraging wildlife
- security and seating
In the future we intend to organise and support a variety of activities
within the park including, tree and wildflower planting, bird box making.
Autumn colours, October 2007
