Memories of Park-life....

As seen in Bolton News - Queens Park and received the Green Flag accolade.

http://www.theboltonnews.co.uk/news/14635798.PICTURES__Bolton_park_hailed_as_one_of_best_in_country/

What memories do you have of being in Queens Park, or of that matter the other two big parks - Moss Bank and Leverhulme.

The memories I have of Leverhulme park is the Bolton Show. Used to love it in the early years, got a bit crapper as time went on

Used to go to moss bank park all the time, remember the mini zoo, banana swing boats and the little cafe

Queens park was for drinking cider in as a teenager 

Always loved Moss Bank Park apart from the zoo, when i was about 4 or 5 a peacock chased me and put the fear of god in me! Used to love the rock gardens,going on the little railway and they had a big slide as well.
Played tennis and pitch and putt on there as well, a great park, probably the best in Bolton

Can't say that I have ever been around Queen's Park.

Used to go to Moss Bank park a lot with the 63 steps behind at Barrow Bridge.

used to love Barrow Bridge as well, did anyone go in the ciggie tunnel? It was like a right of passage when i was at school

Loved Barrow Bridge. Fell down a hole there once.

I've been falling into things ever since.

whatsgoingon wrote:Used to go to moss bank park all the time, remember the mini zoo, banana swing boats and the little cafe

Don't forget that toy train ride. Used to love that as a kid

Norpig wrote:Queens park was for drinking cider in as a teenager 

Always loved Moss Bank Park apart from the zoo, when i was about 4 or 5 a peacock chased me and put the fear of god in me! Used to love the rock gardens,going on the little railway and they had a big slide as well.
Played tennis and pitch and putt on there as well, a great park, probably the best in Bolton

This pretty much sums up my younger years (apart from the bit about being chased by a peacock). Drinking around the pie crust in Queens Park in summer and sledging down the hills and steps in winter. 

At Moss Bank we'd play tennis on the courts and hide and seek in and around the rock gardens. Great place was Moss Bank.

Norpig wrote:used to love Barrow Bridge as well, did anyone go in the ciggie tunnel? It was like a right of passage when i was at school

Haha the cigarette tunnel, I'd forgot all about that. Looks like I spent a bit of time following in your footsteps Norpig! 

I scored my first hat trick on Queens Park against Oldhams estate. I'd scored two and we had a free kick about 25 yards out and our centre back, Will, just said, "just fucking smack it" second best goal i ever scored

Moss bank was the little train and the zoo

Longsight park in harwood was good.

y2johnny wrote:I scored my first hat trick on Queens Park against Oldhams estate. I'd scored two and we had a free kick about 25 yards out and our centre back, Will, just said, "just fucking smack it" second best goal i ever scored

Moss bank was the little train and the zoo

Longsight park in harwood was good.

I wasn't going to bother asking but the curiosity is a killer, go on, what is the best goal you have scored?

Norpig wrote:used to love Barrow Bridge as well, did anyone go in the ciggie tunnel? It was like a right of passage when i was at school

Loved the ciggie tunnel, especially when the water was running fast, you could glide down on your stomach. A Very rare occurrence for it to be warm enough and to have rained enough, Brill. 

Queens park paddling pools. 
Remember thinking it was a long way to walk on a hot day just to stand up to your shin's in water and watch people cut their feet on glass. 
My brother, (C#nt) used to tell me there was a ghost in Queens park and someone hanged himself near the river.
Frightened the shit out of me.  

Azzy (Haslam) park was my favourite, walking past the pen's (allotments) or walking down the bruck. 
Anybody remember the tramp, Jimmy Carter? Or trying to throw sod's down the Funnel's of steam trains that went 
 under the bridge? 
Tears are forming now, time to stop drinking. 

Bwfc1958 wrote:

y2johnny wrote:I scored my first hat trick on Queens Park against Oldhams estate. I'd scored two and we had a free kick about 25 yards out and our centre back, Will, just said, "just fucking smack it" second best goal i ever scored

Moss bank was the little train and the zoo

Longsight park in harwood was good.

I wasn't going to bother asking but the curiosity is a killer, go on, what is the best goal you have scored?

It was for school.  Against mount st josephs

0-0 all game with two minutes to go and i had a total hit and hope from the half way line that looped the keeper.

Next day about 20 lads from mount where waiting outside the school gates to kick the shit out of me

Was well worth it

Used to go to Egerton Park as kids, played tennis,football and we used to play crown green bowls because you could hire them. My dad played it at the Coneervative club and we watched sometimes and picked up some of the lingo. Good wood, oh he's only put a tuppenny stamp on it. We didn't really master the nuances of it because it used to be 2 or 3 bowls followed by a load trying to smash them all.

As a kid I spent most of my time in Bobby Heywoods park. Happy days.

Great thread Chris.

My local park was Mere Hall but back in those days we played mostly on the streets and 'spare ground'.

Going 'to' the park such as Moss Bank was sort of a family day trip out, we either walked over to Queens Park with bread to feed the ducks, or catch the local bus (The No 1) to Moss Bank and visit the boating lake (but I can never remember actually going on it although I may have done).

For some reason I used to love running around the rock gardens at Moss bank and eating our 'butties' on the benches there.

My father also used to love a walk on a good day and sometimes used to walk me and my brother through Queens Park to Spa Road, then up through Middlebrook as far as Haslam Park and out on to Wigan Road, then head up Deane Church Lane and go visit my uncle.  

We caught the bus back though!

Happy days.