|
Description:
The upper right hand section of the marker
includes cut outs of the petals of a flower interlinked with an industrial
cog wheel, bottle kilns, a ceramic pot, a flying swan, bulrushes and a swan
swimming on a pond. Below these is an embossed map of the Festival Park and,
beneath this, the logos of Stoke City Council, the European Community,
Groundwork Stoke on Trent, Cobridge Community Renewal, and St Modwen. All of
these organisations were involved in the organisation and planning of the
1986 Garden Festival.
The bottle kilns, ceramic pot and industrial
cog wheel allude to the local pottery and engineering industries. The swan
appears in the logo of St Modwens, the property development company
responsible for developing the site.
|
text on the marker...
Festival Park
"On May 7th 1986 Her Majesty Queen
Elizabeth II officially opened the second National Garden Festival of
England here at Festival Park.
The Festival site, together with
Shelton and Etruria were key areas in the industrial development of the
City of Stoke-on-Trent. Less than a decade before the ground vibrated to
the sound of heavy machinery and the landscape was dominated by blast
furnaces, forges and chimneys of the Shelton Steel Works. Half a
kilometre south of this point is Etruria Hall (now part of the Moat
House Hotel), former home of Josiah Wedgwood whose famous Etruria
Pottery Works were once sited by the canal.
The City was given an unique
opportunity to redevelop the derelict site by hosting the National
Garden Festival of England. Over two million people visited the event in
the summer of 1986. Thousands of exhibitions and activities were
featured including seventy themed gardens and visitors were able to view
the spectacle by railway and cable car.
The Garden Festival attracted new
private investment into the City as well as creating a lasting legacy of
green space for local people. Today the site is a combined leisure,
retail and business park set in the Festival grounds for visitors and
local people to enjoy."
|
|
Index
of all Stoke-on-Trent art |
