The Friends of Holywells Park and IBC staff from the Park and Cemeteries Team celebrated being accredited its 10th consecutive Keep Britain Tidy Green Flag Award by holding a socially distanced flag unveiling in front of the iconic Conservatory in Holywells Park. The Chair and several committee members joined the Park Manager to unveil the new award and say a fond farewell to the longest serving staff member from the Parks gardening team after a career spanning 5 decades after he started working in the park in 1978. Neil Wonfor has seen many changes to the Parks Department during this time and recalls the time when gardeners biked round town with tools strapped to the cross bar. This was long before the introduction of labour-saving devices such as ride on lawn mowers and other power tools such as strimmer’s and hedge trimmers, which staff these days take for granted, and all had to be done the hard way……. by hand!
Neil has always been a popular face on the park, especially with the dog walking fraternity and quite often had a pocket full of dog treats which regulars came to know of when and where he would most likely to be. He has many stories to tell about all the changes to the park he has seen throughout his loyal service and rumour has it that it was him who filled in the Ice House (because it was dangerous) which the HLF Restoration has lovingly restored.
Neil will be sorely missed by all his colleagues and anyone that has had the pleasure to know Neil and truly hope that he will continue to visit the park and have a long and enjoyable retirement!
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