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Dinosaurs in the Park was a walk-through show of 39 life-sized, animatronic dinosaur replicas. It took place between 19th May and 11th June 2023 in Cottage […]
The sustainable drainage system, or ponds project as it became known, was the last development funded in the 2017 improvements package. Unlike other work which improved […]
Parkruns are held every Saturday morning in about 1,200 locations in the UK and abroad. Each one is a community event organised by volunteers and people […]
By 2015, the bowling pavilion was almost 25 years old and in need of refurbishment. Its facilities did not meet modern standards while, outside, its walls […]
The Meadow Café opened on 26th July 2019. It was built next to the clock tower roundabout on the site of the changing rooms and public […]
When the park opened in 1931, there were six hard and two grass tennis courts where the Life Centre Field is today. The courts were removed […]
The playing fields on the western side of Discovery Way had long suffered from poor drainage and were frequently unplayable in wet weather. There was also […]
In the recession that followed the banking crash in 2008, people were attracted to growing their own food and, by 2011, more than a thousand were […]
In an echo of the cycle races held in the park between 1944 and 1959, Central Park provided the stage for a cycling festival on Sunday, […]
By March 2011, Plymouth Argyle was heavily in debt and its directors decided to put the club into administration. Once the bulk of the debt had […]
Building the Life Centre generated huge quantities of earth and rubble, not only from its deep foundations but also from the demolition of the old swimming […]
Ruth Heaton (left), Jean Waterfield (middle) and Joan Hassall (right) were among those who as schoolchildren took part in planting trees on Coronation Avenue in 1937. […]
Whatever their merits as sporting facilities, the swimming pool and Mayflower centre had little connection with the park. The large buildings were poorly situated and intruded […]
There had been an extensive, privately-run skate park in Zoo Field which was demolished in 1981. In July 2004 a new, public skate park was built […]
In 2009, English football clubs were vying to be one of the host venues for the 2018 World Cup competition should the country win the bid. […]
The twin demands of paying the rent for its Peverell Park ground and making the improvements needed meant that Plymouth Cricket Club’s finances were often a […]
The 2008 Area Action Plan sought to improve the park’s landscape quality and access whilst minimising maintenance commitments and maximising revenue generation. It proposed to create […]
Work to design and install a permanent orienteering course was completed between 2003 and 2004. Much of the surveying and mapping was done by volunteers with […]
In 2003 the conservation charity, International Tree Foundation, was looking to extend its Family Tree Scheme to more places. At the same time, Plymouth City Council […]
Play facilities in Central Park took a major step forward in 2003 when the Seven Continents adventure playground opened on a new site, south west of […]
Extensive consultation in 2000, showed that most people wanted better sports facilities with a new-build replacement for the aging Mayflower Centre but having better park facilities […]
The avenue of red horse chestnuts planted by school children for the coronation of King George VI was made the subject of a Tree Preservation Order […]
In 2001, Plymouth Argyle applied to redevelop the Home Park stadium in phases. Phase 1 was to replace the Lyndhurst (north), Devonport (west) and Barn Park […]
Two Plymouth University students, Steve Toze and Nigel Muntz, were keen mountain bikers and Steve started a magazine for the sport called “Shred or Dead” in […]
The front page of the Evening Herald on 11th April 1996 unveiled a bold design for a future super-stadium, called the ‘Tradium’, at Home Park. An […]
Between 1990 and 1995, Heineken sponsored free-admission music festivals in city parks across the country. They were staged over four days and held in and around […]
In a four-page edition of ‘Plymouth People’ in 1991, the Council set out its vision for better sports facilities which included refurbishing the run-down Mayflower Centre […]
By 1990, the Mayflower Centre and its extensions were starting to look time-worn, having been cheaply constructed. Other sports halls in the city were also at […]
The zoo’s popularity waned during the 1970s and started to incur financial losses. In 1977, the owners, Chipperfields, proposed to keep the quarantine facility and the […]
The present clock is the second to occupy the site. More information is sought about the previous clock tower which is believed to have been installed […]
As the new manager of Plymouth Argyle in 1972, Tony Waiters wanted the football club to have its own training facilities close to Home Park, the […]
Memories of rides on the 10¼ inch gauge miniature railway during the summers of 1946, 1947 and 1948 might have been the inspiration for something more […]
In 1972, Devon County Council – the Highways Authority at the time – made provision for a £10 million dual-carriageway flyover that would have linked the […]
After the swimming pool opened in 1965, Plymouth City Council and sporting interests wanted to establish a sports hall and other facilities in Central Park but […]
Nearly five inches of rain fell on Central Park on Monday, 28th July 1969, and the floodwaters provided a brief opportunity for wild swimming, as these […]
After distinguished war service, various escapades in South America and farming in Devon, Ross Salmon joined the BBC as a presenter in the 1960s and later […]
When the park was made, the junction between Alma Road and Outland Road was a simple crossroads, and the park’s main entrance path led from the […]
As part of her teacher training, Sandra Bowden (nee Fray) observed how children used the facilities in Milehouse playground and this is an extract from her […]
A small book of “Regulations as to Bowling and Putting Greens, Miniature Golf Course and Tennis Courts” was issued by the Town Clerk in 1966, Measuring […]
In the late 1960s, there were attempts to establish kart racing as a regular activity in Central Park. References are few but a letter to the […]
It was third time lucky when the Devon Branch of the charity, Men of the Trees, organised a mass tree planting with 200 children from 15 […]
Remarkably, a fox hunt took place in Central Park on 21st January 1966. The zoo had been losing its ornamental fowl and penguins to fox raids […]
Roads in America were often built with a green verge or ‘park strip’ and stopping there was called ‘parking’. The term took on a quite literal […]
Of all the major developments that took place between 1960 and 1975, only the golf course has survived. Not only that but it has matured as […]
Before and after the second world war, the city had no indoor swimming pool for public use. The outdoor pools at Mount Wise and Tinside were […]
Before Plymouth’s new civic theatre, the Theatre Royal, opened in 1982, theatrical productions were staged in a very large tent, otherwise known as a Cinerama or […]
Once a decision had been taken in 1962 to build the new indoor swimming pool in Central Park and not in the city centre as some […]
Following completion of the new Civic Centre in March 1962, the Town Clerk and his staff moved there, having been at Pounds House since 1941. Eighteen […]
Opened in 1962, Plymouth Zoo was hugely popular, attracting 50,000 visitors a year during its heyday. It incorporated a quarantine facility where imported animals were kept […]
