Oliver Wicksteed Column
Our day of celebration to mark the centenary of the Wicksteed Park Water Chute was a glorious occasion, with lots of smiles and enjoyment and so many people reliving their happy memories of the ride.
The Water Chute is one of the oldest surviving water-based rides in the world and the oldest ride of its kind in the UK.
Listening to the stories of how much it, and the park in general, mean to them and the positive role they played in their childhood just served to underline how important then place is to the people of Northamptonshire and further afield.
It’s easy to forget just what an amazing place the park is and take it for granted, especially if you haven’t visited for a while, so hopefully the centenary will help to remind people that they need to support the park if they want it to survive.
The Wicksteed Charitable Trust, the charity which owns the park, is raising money to help maintain it and you can get further information and donate by going to www.wicksteedpark.org/about-wicksteed-park
Wicksteed Park’s rides and attractions are open throughout the Easter holidays, until April 12, and also every weekend, bank holiday and school holiday until the end of September.
After listening to feedback from visitors, the price of on-day wristbands purchased at the park has been reduced from £25 to £22, to match the online purchase price.
Model fans can enjoy everything from boats, planes and trains to haulage trucks and traction engines when Wicksteed Park Model Boat Club hosts an event for the whole family later this month.
The free event will run from 10am to 5pm on Saturday April 18 and Sunday April 19, and will include superb railway layouts and model boats, both on display and sailing on the park’s heritage model boat pond.
There will also be large-scale model aircraft on show (no flying), model jet turbine demonstrations, and haulage trucks in action, as well as steam model traction engines.
Visitors will be able to try their hand at operating radio-controlled boats and trying out the hobby for real.
Crawler Trucks will be performing over a very tricky obstacle course, demonstrating their amazing skills in climbing the most demanding challenges.
There will also be demonstrations by Models for Heroes, the charity which gives valuable support to former and current armed forces and emergency personnel.