Plasterwork designed by Andrew Mazzei has been found during the restoration of the Winter Gardens in Blackpool.

The plaster had been covered up many years ago but has survived along with its original mirrors.

The first phase of the restoration project has cost over £1m

It has now been completely restored and re-painted to form the new Café area serving the Floral Hall and the core of the complex.

The discovery was made during a £1.25m restoration project.

The Winter Gardens, famous for hosting political conferences, concerts, exhibitions and even the Royal Variety Performance, is a Grade II listed building located in the heart of Blackpool’s town centre.

Funded by Blackpool Council, North West Development Agency (NWDA) and European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), the first phase of work has seen restoration take place on the Church Street entrance, rotunda and the floral hall.

Andrew Mazzei, was the art director of the Gaumont Film Company.

Winter Gardens investment for the future

In March 2010 Blackpool Council purchased the iconic Winter Gardens building in the heart of Blackpool’s town centre along with Blackpool Tower, Louis Tussauds Waxworks and the Golden Mile Centre.

Cllr Peter Callow, Leader of Blackpool Council, said: “It’s a wonderful building but in recent times it’s just not had the investment it needs and many parts of the building have started to fall into disrepair” .

The vast majority of the restoration work has been carried out by contractors based on the Fylde Coast.

Conservation architects, Donald Insall Associates, were contracted to create the restoration designs.

Cllr Callow added: ” We want to ensure a long term sustainable use for the Winter Gardens, so that it helps to bring jobs into Blackpool.”

The Winter Gardens was built on the six-acre Bank Hey Estate and officially opened on 11th July 1878.

The Regal Cinema in Tenbury, Worcestershire, is to receive a grant to help conserve the Grade II building.

Over £680,000 has been awarded by the Heritage Lottery Fund to fund community activities and preserve the Art Deco purpose built cinema.

Designed by specialist cinema architect Ernest Robert, it is nationally recognised by the Cinema Theatre Association as having ‘one of the most astonishing auditorium decorations of 1930s cinemas in Britain’.

Painted mural by George Legge - a ‘trompe l’oeil’. Pic HLF

The Mayor of Tenbury Wells, Councillor Elizabeth Weston, said: ‘It is a wonderful Christmas gift for Tenbury Wells to know that part of its heritage will be preserved for future generations.”

Secure future for Regal Cinema

Unlike many cinema’s of the period which have fallen into disrepair and dereliction, the construction of a community centre at the rear of the building in the 1980’s has seen the Regal Cinema act as a focal point for local groups and activities ever since.

Built to replace the New Picture House, which was on the site since 1917, the Regal Cinema was acquired by the Council in 1972.

Located on Teme Street in Tenbury town centre it has been cited an excellent example of a 1930s ‘super cinema’ constructed on miniature scale.

Designed by specialist cinema architect Ernest Robert, it is nationally recognised by the Cinema Theatre Association as having ‘one of the most astonishing auditorium decorations of 1930s cinemas in Britain’ in the form of a painted mural by George Legge – a ‘trompe l’oeil’ Italian scene around three sides of the interior.

Currently in poor condition and suffering from water ingress through its roof and walls, the grant money will ensure that this 20th century artwork is conserved and saved for future generations.

Anne Jenkins, Head of the Heritage Lottery Fund for the West Midlands, explained the importance of the award: “The HLF grant will ensure that as well as being able to preserve the interior, the Council can now develop further educational activities and interpretation for people of all ages so they can learn about the past of this beautiful building while using it today.”

Community activities to be run in conjunction with the project include the recruitment and training of volunteers to carry out research for a booklet, oral histories to be recorded and made into a CD, cinema tours, a teacher/student resource pack called ‘Producing the Regal’, and a young people’s annual film project.

The HLF grant to the project  is for £681,300 (90% of project costs) and is a Heritage Lottery Fund confirmed award.

The ‘lost garden’ of Elford Hall, near Lichfield in Staffordshire, is to be saved for the local community, thanks to a confirmed grant of £248,400 from the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) and the efforts of dedicated volunteers.

The walled kitchen garden and gardeners cottage is all that remains of the Georgian Elford Hall Estate, built in approximately 1825 by Henry Bowes, Earl of Berkshire and Suffolk.

Elford Garden Wall - Pic HLF

Remaining in the family until 1936, the hall, garden and outbuildings were then donated to Birmingham City Council (BCC) as a gift for local residents.

After falling into disrepair the hall was demolished in the 1960s and now the remaining garden wall and associated outbuildings are Grade II listed.

Half a mile of trees

The 12ft high wall, measuring 350ft by 300ft, encloses a space that has been largely neglected for the past 50 years and once housed half a mile of fruit trees.

The Elford Hall Gardens Management Committee is a voluntary community organisation formed in 2007 by local people determined to rescue it for community use.

They will now be able to start work restoring it to its former glory, giving local people the chance to get involved in the work and to cultivate allotments there.

Anne Jenkins, Head of the Heritage Lottery Fund in the West Midlands, said:

“The community has come together in support of this project to conserve an historic walled garden that will be brought back to productive use after so many years of neglect.

Volunteers will be able to gain new skills and schoolchildren learn about nature, local heritage and the environment.”

Allotments

The HLF funded project to restore the walled garden is part of a larger initiative that will see the former head gardener’s cottage restored to provide space for a coffee shop, toilets and a classroom.

There will be educational activities linked to local schools who have already expressed interest in using the garden for visits.

The Victorian gardens, herbaceous borders and orchard will be re-created, and allotments – a feature of the original gardens – will also be established giving the community an opportunity to take an active part in ensuring the site’s sustainability.

A bowling green and tennis courts will also be constructed within the garden walls, original structure and pathways restored, and routes made accessible to picnicking areas along the adjacent River Tame.

Local people have expressed their enthusiasm for this approach. Just some of the exciting volunteering and educational opportunities that the HLF project offers are:

• training and opportunities for participants to learn skills including path laying, fencing, horticultural planning, and learning about environmentally friendly methods of food production
• a gardening club for all ages with talks, events, and workshops
• a series of lectures on rural crafts from hedge laying to basket weaving
• creation of a local schools heritage trail
• working with three local schools to produce new site interpretation
• a 12 week Princes Trust training programme for fifteen young people who will help plant the orchard and herb garden

Dave Watton, Chair of the Elford Hall Gardens Management Committee said:

“We are all delighted to receive such substantial backing from the Heritage Lottery Fund which will enable us to deliver this exciting project to maintain an element of Elford’s rural heritage for the benefit of so many people in the years to come.”

When completed it will be an amazing asset not only for Elford but for the whole of Staffordshire and the wider region.

Walked and driven past thousands of times a day, the significance of these municipal gardens is largely unknown to the City’s inhabitants.

Situated on the north bank of the River Eden just off Eden Bridge is Eden Bridge Gardens, designed by the internationally renowned landscape architects Thomas H Mawson & Sons.

Eden Bridge (Italian) Gardens, Carlisle

For some peculiar reason, these gardens have been known locally for many years as the “Chinese Gardens”. However, there is nothing Chinese in the design and anybody knowledgeable in the works of Thomas Mawson, knows that he was famed for his grand Italianate designs, still existing at many stately homes including Rydal Hall in Cumbria.

Built using unemployed labour in the depression of the 1930′s, under the supervision of the City Engineer, Percy Dalton, these gardens costs just over £3,000, the cost being kept down by the use of reclaimed materials. The white cove stone used to make the rest houses was taken from the old Eden Bridge parapets that were demolished during the bridge widening operations of 1930 to 1932. The sandstone used to build the retaining walls was taken from the old gaol in English Street and the crazy paving paths that run throughout the garden was taken from the old road, which used to pass over Eden Bridge.  All of this, long before the word “recycling” was even heard of.

Opened in 1933 by City Mayor, Councillor E.B Gray, the design featured the classic Mawson pergolas

Eden Bridge Gardens Opening Plaque 1933

and raised terraces overlooking lily ponds. Crazy paving and a simple rock garden completes the setting.  Most of the design work is likely to be attributed to Thomas Mawsons’ son Edward as Thomas was suffering from Parkinson’s disease and indeed died in November 1933.  This was possibly one of the last designs that Thomas Mawson may have contributed to.

Sadly these gardens are in disrepair, but a grant of £50,000 has recently been awarded by The Heritage Lottery Fund to help the City Council with restoration. Work will start in October 2008 by Carlisle City Council employees.

The scheme will see vital repairs, made to the rose pergolas and Lily ponds. The rock garden will be cut back and invasive species and weeds removed and the surrounding trees cut back to allow more light into the garden and create site lines through to the main Rose pergola. The steps, which connect the two raised terraces, are to be relaid and the crazy paving paths repointed. The work is expected to take six months to complete.

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