Friday 18 July 2014

Queen's Gardens: Back to the Future


I mentioned a few days ago that the collective insanity known as Hull City Council had proposed a series of makeovers for the city centre, at the time I said that I thought they weren't too bad. Well I think I spoke in haste because on closer examination some of the proposals are borderline bonkers. Take, for example, the proposal to reinstate Queen's Gardens as it was planned in the 1920's. Let's be clear this would be an act of pure vandalism. Queen's Gardens is now a place of mature trees and tranquil ponds with pleasing fountains. In the 30's the place looked like a desert with immature trees, boring planted borders and no ponds (see here and here). Is the Council really proposing to remove mature trees and fill in ponds? To top off this lunacy there's the creamy delish proposal to build a retractable stage over the duck pond at the far end, this is to stage 'events' and lies alongside yet another proposed stage to commemorate Mick Ronson, a guitarist with the eminently forgettable Spiders from Mars or so I'm told (this presumably would stage non-events). Very 1920's I must say! So there you have it, vandalism mixed with tawdry tackiness, about par for HCC.
Queen's Gardens is one of the few places in Hull that doesn't need fixing, so kindly leave it alone.


The Weekend in Black and White is here.
Weekend Reflections can be found here.

9 comments:

  1. Excellent photos. To judge from these, Queen's Gardens is a beautiful place. I hope the Council sees sense.

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  2. Good shots, but the plans sound tacky and tawdry indeed.

    We had a park here that was essentially handed over to a pack of real estate developers so they could have football, condos, and big box stores. They "claim" there'll be a proper park, but I'm still expecting it to be vastly diminished from what might have been.

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  3. I think the plans are fine. A proper tribute to the great Mick Ronson is long overdue.

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  4. I would have liked the see the reflections in colour. Have a great weekend.

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  5. Great photos... The Geen's Gardens must be beautiful...

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  6. Rather than fell the beautiful trees, could we not hang the more idiotic Council members from their boughs pour encourager les autres?

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  7. "... kindly leave it alone." Seconded.

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  8. Beautiful. It would be a shame to see it changed so drastically.

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