Community group Waterfoot Forward have been working alongside Rossendale Borough Council and Community Interest Company Proffitts on a project to improve Tricketts Memorial Ground in Waterfoot
Community group Waterfoot Forward have been working alongside Rossendale Borough Council and Community Interest Company Proffitts – Investing in Communities on a project to improve Tricketts Memorial Ground in Waterfoot. After a long public consultation and fundraising period, works on site began in June and all the upgrades have now been completed.
Changes include upgraded path surfaces, tree works, additional planting around the site, and more bins. The Memorial Ground entrance pillars and archway have also been carefully cleaned and restored, and the steps to the commemorative stone to local people who have died in conflict since WWI have been made much safer too. New site interpretation panels have also been installed that provide lots more information about the grounds.
Tim Nuttall from Waterfoot Forward said: “Trickett’s Memorial Ground was bought in 1922, and then given to the Borough of Rawtenstall, by the workers of local footwear factory Gaghills Mill to commemorate 44 of their colleagues who gave their lives in World War One.
“In recent years some damage has been caused to the entrance gateway and we wanted to restore and repair this. We’re thrilled that the improvements at Tricketts have now been finished. We started this project in 2012 and it wasn’t until we engaged Proffitts CIC that we found funding to carry out the work. We’d like to thank all the teams that worked with us to make this happen. In particular, the teams at Lancashire Environment Fund , The FCC Community Action Fund and Rossendale Borough Council who have funded and supported us. We’d also like to thank the volunteers at Civic Pride Rossendale who do so much to keep the park looking good for visitors.’’
Cllr Julie Adshead from Rossendale Borough Council told us ‘’Tricketts Memorial Ground has been a key part of Waterfoot heritage for over a century, and we’re certain that it will now be a popular and welcoming space for visitors for another hundred years. The health and wellbeing benefits of spending time outdoors in green spaces is well documented, and we hope that the residents close by enjoy spending more time here. We’re lucky to have great external funders who have supported the changes, and to have community groups like Waterfoot Forward working with us on projects like this.’’
Waterfoot Forward has created a new website to tell the story of the Memorial Ground and the biographies of the 44 men who died in WWI who are commemorated there. www.trickettsmemorialground.co.uk
The grounds are fully open to the public, and more information about the project can be found on the website below:
https://www.proffittscic.com/community-projects/tricketts-memorial-ground/
If you would like more general information about the project, please contact Martin Proffitt at Proffitts (CIC) on 07989928038 or communities@proffittscic.com