National Lottery Grants Save Wicksteed Park

People from all over the UK have visited Wicksteed Park in Kettering in Northamptonshire, England. Kettering just wouldn’t be Kettering without Wicksteed Park but last year it nearly closed. Help from the local community and the National Lottery have saved the park.

A long history

Wicksteed Park has so much to offer. It has everything from theme park rides to a huge lake, a crazy golf course and its famous train that travels around the park. It was opened 100 years ago this year by wealthy industrialist Charles Wicksteed.

His aim was to create a green space for local people, one where children could play, and adults relax and also enjoy nature. The original idea was to use income received from the paid amusements to support a free green space, an idea that lives to this day.

How did it all start? Charles had seen some children sliding down a bench that had been propped up against a tree. He believed he could do something better than that and the engineer built the world’s first playground slide. This developed into what is believed to be the first children’s playground in the world.

Financial help

The pandemic hit them hard last year and in June 2020 the park went into administration. Oliver Wicksteed (great grandson of Charles) is the chair of the Wicksteed Charitable Trust. He told how they had to use their reserves to stay alive. Two National Lottery grants totalling £480,000 “was an absolute godsend.”

Oliver added: ““We describe ourselves as a country park with rides” A million people come to the park every year, half of which are local people. Their model railway has had over 200 million journeys since opening 90 years ago.

Thanks to local help and National Lottery grants, Wicksteed Park now has a brighter future. For the general public, everything is open apart from on soft play area. The chair says: “Myself and the trustees are very proud of where we are at the moment. We are in much better shape than we would have been without The National Lottery’s support.

Buy a ticket today from Lottery24.