I was born in 1947 and brought up in Halifax Road and used to play in Histon road recreation ground which I believe was then owned by distant relatives called Plumb who lived on Histon Road two doors away from what was then a fish and chip shop called Extons but is now Domino’s pizza takeway.

I met my wife Elaine at the recreation ground when I was 14 and she was 13 she used to walk her dog which I would whistle to ger her attention.

We had 57 years together sadly she passed away last February at the age of 76 after a long illness. 

The park used to be very well kept with a resident park keeper called Curly Redman who had a wooden hut at the edge of the park where currently new houses are being built.

The hut had a stable door and Curly would lean out to make sure we were behaving ourselves!

At the rear of the building was an open store where he kept his tools and mower at best he had a hand petrol mower for small areas!

The side of the park along Canterbury Close and Canterbury Street had a ditch that connected to Richmond Road to prevent flooding.

There was an area for small children which was not closed in as it is today.

The Richmond Road side was for older children with more exciting rides one of which we called the plank!

There was also a six seater rocking horse which we would hold for a few seconds then return to normal rocking which would make our girlfriends scream!

There were also swings where we would sit and talk to each other for hours.

The most useful building was the toilet block at the Richmond Road end of the park these were very well maintained by Curly Redmond and never vandalised!

If there was any bad behaviour Curly would tell us off and our parents would tell us how lucky we were to have the freedom that did.

There was also a well kept drinking fountain at the Canterbury Street entrance that was turned off in the winter.

The park was opened at dawn and locked at dusk.

As I grew up and started to play sport there was a very sporty family living in Richmond Road called Shadrack the two boys Gary and Bob were good sportsmen and their Dad used to organise football and cricket matches.

Looking at the park today I realise how lucky I was to have it and so carefully cared for in my youth.

Sadly it is not always the same today.

As a member of Cambridge Rotary Club I am a member of a group that litter picks for the City Council so I started picking up litter in the park after weekends and holidays and as I was wearing a Rotary jacket several people stopped and thanked me.

A few months later I noticed a letter asking for volunteers to form a litter picking group.

I thank and applaud you all as I have now ended my part in this venture.

I am hoping to put a seat in the park in memory of my wife.

One thing I would like to stop is the drug dealing which takes place, my house backs on to the park and it is obvious that it is happening..

I have reported it as we need to put an end to it as we don’t want our children growing up and getting involved!

I hope this has given you an insight into how important this green area is to us all and how we need to preserve it.

Thank you for taking the time to read this article I hope you find it interesting.

Regards

John Martin

J.P. K of St. G.