The above photo shows just inside the park gates at Pickering Park (s.p.b.). The main carriage gates seem to be permanently shut these days, the side pedestrian gates open. Mr. Pickering was quite happy, it seems , for the main carriageway to be used as a way-through between Pickering Road (not then so named) and Hessle Road; but this would then (1914) have been for horse drawn farm carts or private horse drawn carriages. Priory Farm was sited just across Hessle Road from the Park gates until well after the Second World War and had been one of the out-village (post-enclosure) farms of Hessle Common; emphasising the fact yet again that municipal parks and cemeteries had to be initially located beyond the City itself, later to be surrounded by suburban development.

The house seen in the photo was completed by 1911 (I think), in that year a job application was advertised for a ‘Park Foreman’ (defined elsewhere as ‘Park Keeper’). Later that year a man was appointed, plus three gardeners and six labourers. The ‘Superintendent’s’ house (a later phrase) was a fine detached house with at least three bedrooms and in a simple Arts and Crafts design then fashionable. It cost the Corporation a considerable sum to build and the Superintendent and his family got it rent free – so long as he kept the job. The house helped attract quality candidates, generally experienced in park organisation and often from various parts of the country.

In 1912 the councillor members of the Parks and Burial Committee of the City Corporation add Pickering Park to their annual park inspection, now four in number : Pearson Park (by then 50 years old), East and West Parks (by then 20 years old and, now also, Pickering Park. They were generally well pleased, but on this occasion their conclusions were not recorded in the Committee minutes.

The troublesome image above is of a postcard dated July 13th, 1911 and was reproduced in a copy of the Hull Daily Mail on December 5th, 2008. It shows the main entrance gates to Pickering Park off Hessle High Road when they were first made and installed in 1909. The businessman Christopher Pickering (shown top-left) apparently paid £1000 for them. Over 100 years later they survive intact, albeit rusty and weather-worn in places.

The next of this year’s parks and cemeteries guided walks on Saturday 11th April is at Pickering Park, meeting at these gates at 10am.

The photo taken in 1909 serves to show how indebted we are to our predecessors who initiated such public facilities, especially so as they only saw then in there very early stages, whereas we see the full fruits of their labours and expenditures.

Christopher Pickering only had 10 years to live after donating the 50 acres of his land to the City Council as celebrated in the above photo. Having been born just four years after Queen Victoria’s inauguration in modest circumstances he spent all his working life building-up various businesses related to Hull’s fishing industry, latterly owning over one hundred steam driven trawlers.

The detailed development of Pickering Park was delayed by the Great War and as the very elderly Mr. Pickering lived in Hornsea he did not see the full development of this project.

One line of thought on Saturday will be to draw similarities between C. Pickering and Pickering Park and T. Ferens and East Park. Another focus will be the original lakes.

Recent photo above shows a section of the completed Humber/Marina Dock side upgrading. It should be stated straightway that the new surface does not include the coloured bricks which previously outlined the course of the medieval town walls, which to my mind is a loss; what there is now is a single slab opposite the end of Humber Street giving the location of Hessle gate, the southern-most of the four medieval gates in the wall.

Some new flower-beds to compliment the existing trees and lots of modern seating. This is not far from the recently opened to the public Spurn Lightship, morred in the north-west corner of the Marina.

The similar ongoing work along the east side of Princes Dock is clearly not yet finished. Once finished, and once Queen’s Garden is finished there will be an elegant walk from Queen’s Gardens, alongside Princes Dock, over Murdock Connection, alongside the Marina, through Humber Street, under the A63, round to and through the Arcade then back to Queens Gardens via Land of Green Ginger.

It would be nice to see similar upgrading on the east side of Humber and Princes Dock, but, of course, the carbuncle of Princes Quay is in the way – demolish it.

The above photo shows a remarkable maple tree, originally planted in front of Lime Villa (demolished), Pearson Park, Hull. Part of Henson Villas is shown behind, these buildings now awaiting demolition. Also showing a Lombardy poplar on the far site of the site, this probably planted for Malvern House (demolished 1938). This tree is remarkable because it comes into leaf so early, late March this year, late February last year. It is an example of a tree that has not had to compete with nearby trees for sunlight, photosynthesis.

On the guided walk last Saturday to study the original East Park we discussed the avenues of trees, mostly horse chestnuts, planted in Hull parks and how far apart each was planted to give each trees a chance to flourish without too much competition, but still creating an overhanging avenue. We decided on about 40 feet.

This is reminiscent of hedge planting after parishes were enclosed by Parliamentary Enclosure c.1750-1850. Here often young deciduous hardwood trees were planted to give the landscape diversity and provide some shelter in pastureland. This planting in much of eastern England created a populist image of the countryside; now all but a few have gone, sacrificed to efficient modern farming. How far apart were these trees planted? Distances would have varied parish by parish, but the distances would have been greater than in the parks as no avenues were planned. However such hedgerow trees, like the one above, grew tall, sturdy and with a rounded canopy because they did not have nearby competition. Such a loss.

Recently decided to read this booklet, published in 1988, and which I have had for decades but never read. Sledmere House is a large Georgian period house in the high Yorkshire Wolds, north-west of Driffield. I think it has always been in the ownership of the Sykes family, and remains so today. Georgian, but only because it was rebuilt in faith after a massive fire in 1911, the rebuilding taking place between 1912 and 1917; incidentally with the pediment across the central three bays added then (didn’t exist before). It is interesting that the rebuilding continued through most of the Great War, as also happened at St. Mary’s church, Sculcoates, although there the building work was much delayed and not completed until the early 1920s. The rebuild at Sledmere was happening at the same time as the family organised the Pals detachment known as the Wolds Waggoners for service in the Great War; see the Waggoners Memorial in the estate village, designed by Sir Mark Sykes (now, apparently a grade 1 listed monument).

The glossy booklet (see above) makes reference to pieces of ornate furniture (along with other things), craftsman-built, often with lots of gold leaf and often French. I suspect these sort of acquisitions were often seen by young English aristocrats when on the Grand Tour. If after the French Revolution, such things may have been spoil from the ransacked chateaus of the French aristocracy. No wonder the British ruling classes were so scared of revolution in the 1830s.

Things filter down from the few rich to the many general public. Now everyone wants to do makeovers at home, just that now the items are mass produced, usually in China, and sold at the Range and Dunelm’s. We are all aristocrats now.

Recently a foggy morning, not just mist, not often seen these days. Presumably a result of high humidity air being quickly cooled by falling temperatures overnight. A reminder of the volume of water vapour in the air we breathe, with condensation around minute particles suspended in the air. There is so much less particle matter in the air these days as there is so much less domestic and industrial smoke emitted. However, particles of sorts still exist in suspension, such as those emitted by diesel engines or industrial effluent. I was once told that every cubic metre of air at ground level contained many bracken spores (it was on a formal course) plus assorted pollen particles. Viruses and other pathogens are also there – in the air and none can be seen with the naked eye; so there is nothing can be done, except, of course, reliance on your body’s auto-immune system developed over thousands of generations by evolution. That’s why sepsis is such bad news.

The above photo was taken in Pearson Park; it was not sufficiently dense to be defined as smog; images of the London smogs of the 1950s and ’60s make it hard to see (joke) how everyday life continued at all. Those who long for the ‘good old days’ often forget things like fogs, measles, single glazing etc. It could be along list if I had time to think about it.