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You are here: Home > News > Friends Celebrate 20 Years Of Caring For Country Park

• Friends celebrate 20 years of caring for country park

• Date:

  13th May 2008

• Contact:

  Sarah Egerton

• Organisation:

  The Civic Trust

A group of friends - who number around 150 members - are celebrating 20 years of helping to care for a Green Flag Award-winning gem set in the heart of West Yorkshire.

The Friends of Oakwell Hall and Country Park, set in over 120 acres of countryside, formed in May 1988 when regular visitors to the park got to know the then ranger Derek Crawley who was a very busy man looking after this huge and wonderful site.

The friends formed with the intention of helping out wherever they could. They have since grown to accommodate around 150 members, scooping up awards for their newsletters and of course helping to secure a Green Flag Award for the country park.

Oakwell Hall’s origins lie way back in 1583, when it was built by John Batte. His wooden frame structure was later replaced by the stone building we see today. The hall was almost lost completely in 1926 when wealthy Americans with ties to the Batte family came up with a well-financed plan to transport the manor house, stone by stone, across the Atlantic.

The plan was foiled at the last minute by two local philanthropists, wool magnate Sir Norman Rae and John Earl Sharman, a wealthy Halifax businessman – they bought the hall in 1927 and paid for it’s renovation a year later, before bequeathing it to Birstall Council. Unfortunately, both men died within weeks of the donation.

The hall today is decorated with period furniture dating from around the 1690s – history records that some of this was donated by local people, following an appeal just after the hall was saved.

Friends founder member Roger Knights remembers how they first started.

He said: “Oakwell Hall was re-opened in 1989 after some major structural work and my wife, Norma, and I just fell in love with the place when we moved here 30 years ago. There was a steering committee to form the friends, of which I was a part. Since then I have been chairman and vice chairman. We only ask one thing of our members: give as much or as little as you like. We have members who go down to the hall almost every day and then we have others who quietly serve cups of tea in the background. “

Nigel Hudson was also a founder member. He said: “One of the first jobs we did was to relay the floor in the barn and shortly after that we set about supporting the island in the pond next to the hall. Now we basically do anything that needs doing, whether that’s building a wall, coppicing, path building, dredging ponds, acting as car park attendants or selling cups of tea.”

The Friends of Oakwell Hall – http://www.friendsofoakwellhall.org.uk – was recently recognised by BAfM, the British Association of Friends of Museums, as a model organisation. The group has also scooped a number of prizes for its newsletter, edited by Nigel’s wife, Lesley. She said: “Our Friends group is so successful because we have fun. We all appreciate the hall and the wonderful green space in our built-up area; we enjoy guiding and the outdoor work parties.”