The ‘Walker Park Festival’ celebrates the nine-month renovation programme, which was made possible through a £1.8m grant received from the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) and Big Lottery Fund; and investment by Newcastle City Council, Walker Ward Committee and Your Homes Newcastle.
The re-opening ceremony will be performed by the Rt. Hon Nick Brown MP for Newcastle East and who was a former Walker councillor.
The restoration work enabled improvements to key park facilities including the park centre, play area, amphitheatre, the re-surfacing of footpaths, and the installation of new street furniture.
The contractors used for the project were Brambledown Landscape Services and TGP architects.
Walker Park is steeped in heritage after serving the local community for the past 125-years. It has been an invaluable recreational space offering residents a popular meeting place, an area for children to play and make friends; and somewhere for families to gather and have fun. In its heyday the Park was a crucial resource for industrial workers to wind down as Walker was heavily populated by shipbuilders and miners.
Another local favourite returns as part of the renovation work with a replica statue of Scottish poet, Robert Burns – cast from the original Walker Park sculpture – taking centre stage again after a gap of 40-years; with the original work being housed in the onsite café for all to see.
Saturday’s Walker Park Festival has a variety of free entertainment on offer including live music from The Caffreys, The Odd Bunch, Rose Parade; street theatre from The Bread And Butter Theatre Company; a bubbleologist;