Date:
11th December 2007Contact:
Sarah EgertonOrganisation:
The Civic Trust
Darwin Gardens Millennium Green began as a scheme to rejuvenate the existing West View Park. This was first put forward by Frazer Irwin, a member of Ilkley Parish Council Tourist Management Committee, in 1997, in response to an appeal for suitable ideas to commemorate the forthcoming Millennium.
A meeting of Ilkley Parish Council in July 1998 agreed to support the scheme but were unable to offer any financial contribution. Bradford Council Recreation Division were also unable to commit capital expenditure, but offered assistance with initial site clearance, technical advice on construction work, and the provision of a site map on which to base detailed planning of the landscaping and planting layout. The Countryside Service was also very supportive, with offers of labour and materials.
Right from the beginning, it was clear that much of the impetus for the scheme would have to come from local volunteers and fundraising efforts, plus sponsorship and grant aid achieved via the formation of a Charitable Trust to oversee and administer the project. The project was seen as giving all an opportunity to celebrate the Millennium by creating a feature which would combine reverence for the past with inspiration for the future and everyone in the local community was invited to lend a hand.
Following the donation of a purpose-built display unit from a local hardware shop, a comprehensive public exhibition of the project proposals was mounted from December 1998 to February 1999, rotating between a local supermarket, the public library and a social centre, and was regularly featured in local newspapers. In preparing this display, Dr Harnett, a local resident with project design experience, used 3D landscape design software to generate walk-through and fly-around simulations of parts of the proposed scheme. The exhibition invited the local community to view and comment on plans and put forward their own suggestions using survey forms provided at the display stand. The scheme was also fully discussed at an open meeting of Ilkley Parish Council.
After this extensive period of public consultation, a formal submission of proposals by Bradford Council Recreation Division was unanimously approved by their Leisure Services Committee in March 1999, and followed by agreement of terms for a lease of the site from the local authority to a Charitable Trust formed by the proposers. The Darwin Gardens Trust was established in May 1999, achieving Registered Charity status in July.
The initial phase, completed in the first half of 2000, includes the Millennium Maze created from flagstones and monuments relating the landscape design to an evolutionary, spiritual theme. The design was based on the fylfot symbol, used on the famous ‘Swastika Stone’ (an ancient carved rock on the adjacent Rombald’s Moor), and the whole of the maze area was planned to be surrounded by a rejuvenated setting of young trees, restored pathways and new seating.
Detailed designs for the planting area were sensitively devised to blend in with the natural surroundings of the site by David Timmons, an ex-Ilkley resident and Land Management graduate at Askham Bryan College.
Progress on this phase received a substantial boost in November ‘98, by a generous pledge of funding and construction work from a company involved in a residential development occupying sites adjacent to the proposed Darwin Gardens. Practical work on site commenced in June ‘99 by volunteers using flame gun treatment of overgrown path surfaces (with gas donated by a local hire centre), preceding herbicide application by council operatives to clear a length of path which had been neglected for many years.
A questionnaire was distributed to help establish a network of volunteer support for the scheme, under the supervision of Brian Hill, a local resident with extensive experience of organising work parties. Volunteer labour on bracken and scrub clearance started in October, followed by community planting events supported by the Forest of Bradford initiative, when 1000 hedgerow trees were planted by the local community to form the wildlife hedgerow and several groves of ‘Family Trees’. During November, turf was stripped from the maze area and relaid to form a grassy promenade giving attractive views alongside the ghyll. Mechanical excavation of the maze foundations by donated contract labour, followed by laying out of the flagstones with the assistance of Bradford Countryside Services, took place during Spring 2000.
As well as donations from individuals, support for the project was received from local charities, churches and businesses (including a supermarket and a plant hire firm) and societies such as the gardeners’ association, civic society, and women’s group. More unusual expressions of support included donations of a fibreglass flagpole, and a bicycle, presented to the Trust as ‘official transport’ in recognition of their commitment to ‘green’ transport policy.
During December 1999, negotiations begun with the Countryside Agency, which led to the project becoming included in their ‘Millennium Greens’ initiative from April 2000. This nationwide scheme, administered by the Agency and funded by the Millennium Commission, sought to create areas of open space to be enjoyed permanently by the local community and looked after by a Charitable Trust, as an enduring and worthwhile way of commemorating the Millennium. Every green is unique - as it is up to each local community to decide what the particular site should look like and what features it should have. The objective was to create 250 such Greens across the country, each of them to include a special ‘Millennium’ feature; such as the Millennium Maze in Darwin Gardens.
This welcome development provided access to a raft of funds, which, added to other sources of financial support and extensive volunteer labour, ensured completion of all planned features by the end of 2001, and continuing maintenance until the end of 2002.
The Millennium Maze incorporates 1000 flagstones - one for each year of a Millennium, and individuals or families were offered the opportunity to dedicate stones to be laid in their name. For a modest donation to the Trust, contributors received a decorative map showing the unique location of their stone(s). For a premium contribution, special feature stones were dedicated to local societies, community groups, and businesses; such group donors were able to arrange a date to be present at the laying of their stone, making a memorable social occasion to mark the Millennium. In a similar way, the 1000 newly-planted native trees forming the ‘Family Tree’ hedgerow and groves are available for personal dedication for a small donation per plant. In time these will grow together to form a complete community for wildlife, and be a living reflection of how individual contributions can co-operate towards mutual benefit within the human community.
In addition to regular publicity in local newspapers, a wealth of information and regular progress updates are maintained on the Trust’s own website while ‘Ilkley’s Most Outspoken Resident’ Frazer Irwin has been active in publicising the scheme on local radio. Frazer was also responsible for securing a celebrity with local roots, Jilly Cooper, to perform the official opening of the scheme on June 24th (Midsummer Day) 2000.
Following this, the next phase of the scheme included a ‘New Beginnings’ wildflower meadow established by a local school. The intention is for pupils to raise and plant a range of suitable wildflowers and attract more butterfly species to the site. Swathes mown through the meadow sward give access to picnic tables around an existing oak tree commemorating the Wharfedale Naturalists’ Society.
The Trustees are keenly aware of the site’s educational potential, recognising that Darwin Gardens Millennium Green can serve as an inspiring focus for project work over a wide range of ages and subject areas; and have involved schools in several projects of engaging interest to pupils, whilst also contributing to the development of the scheme.
Other features include a pebble mosaic based on the theme of the ‘Tree of Life’ - designed to represent the branching development of species, and the passage of the seasons, combined with references to another ancient rock-carving in the locality. A further mosaic, utilising pebbles collected from the nearby River Wharfe, and sited above a confluence of streams, explores the theme of ‘Living Waters’, and relates to the local tradition of hydropathic spa treatment, used by Charles Darwin. Another local school designed the mosaic panels.
A further feature beside the picnic area is a human sundial carved from a local boulder with hour markers representing sun rays and doubling also as a millstone to commemorate the now-vanished nearby mill, which utilised the water power which is so evident in the site’s swiftly-flowing ghylls.
The Trust has repaired pathways to improve access for elderly, infirm or less-able visitors to the site, and have established a long stretch of new pathway by installing an all-weather surface of crushed and rolled sandstone - named ‘The Sand Walk’ in honour of its famous original at Down House in Kent, which was habitually used by Charles Darwin as a sheltered walk, while he pondered his theories.
The main entrance feature, ‘Darwin’s View’, takes the form of a monumental plaque honouring Charles Darwin, mounted on a local boulder and sited overlooking ‘North View’, the adjacent house in which Darwin stayed during the initial publication of ‘The Origin of Species’. This feature was unveiled at our opening ceremony and will form an ideal focus to celebrate the 200th anniversary of Darwin’s birth and the 150th of his magnum opus in 2009AD.
A plaque of similar style, incorporating the site’s logo, has been placed at the highest point of the site and together with a monumental viewpoint seat dedicated to all volunteers and supporters, this ‘Millennial Vision’ feature marks the successful completion of all the original plans for the Green. It was supported by a grant from Shell Better Britain and was opened in October 2001 by celebrated children’s author and local resident John Cunliffe.
In addition to its Green Pennant Award, the site has also received several further awards: a Yorkshire Wildlife Trust Conservation Award in 2001, and the Yorkshire in Bloom Millennium Project Trophy in 2002 and 2003, which have encouraged the maintenance and enhancement of this varied and valued environment.
All the above information was gleaned from the trust’s fantastically informative website at: http://www.darwingardens.co.uk
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