Pumpkin carving comes to Radipole Park and Gardens as part of Weymouth 450 celebrations
The Friends of Radipole Park and Gardens will host a free pumpkin carving event in the gardens on Saturday 30th October. Funding for the event comes from Weymouth Town Council’s 450 grant scheme.
To celebrate the 450th anniversary of Weymouth in style, Weymouth Town Council are funding a variety of community events which capture the history of our town. A full list of events and more information about Weymouth 450 can be found on the Town Council’s website.
Around 100 free pumpkins will be available to be carved by children – under supervision – with prizes awarded to the top three designs. There will also be an awareness and discovery trail to discover, run by the Leonard Cheshire charity whose volunteers have been busy knitting autumn-themed items which will form part of the inclusive trail.
Weymouth Town Councillor Jon Orrell will also be at the event with his apple press.
He said: “This is a fantastic community event for all to enjoy, so as well as the pumpkin carving, do bring along your apples to be pressed and don’t forget your containers to take away your freshly pressed apple juice.”
As darkness falls, the pumpkins will be lit up to create a light spectacular – and in a nod to local history, carvers will choose which side of the path to display their pumpkins on with one side representing Weymouth and the other side Melcombe Regis. This is in reference to the two very separate historic towns. There was a fierce rivalry between the two towns, which ended 450 years ago in 1571 when Queen Elizabeth I declared that a bridge would be built across the harbour to combine the two.
Pumpkin carving runs from 3pm to 6pm. More information can be found by exploring The Friends of Radipole Park and Gardens’ new website. The website was funded by a lottery grant and contains up-to-date information about Radipole Park and Gardens, events and activities, latest news stories and blogs, and information on how to become a member of the Friends Group.
The Friends of Radipole Parks and Gardens, in partnership with Weymouth Town Council, applied for lottery funding from The National Lottery Heritage Fund and The National Lottery Community Fund. The bid was successful, and they were awarded £1,013,400 (70% of total project cost of £1,441,401) to make improvements and changes to Radipole Park and Gardens.
Mike Goulden, Chair of Radipole Park and Gardens Friends Group, said: “We are looking forward to welcoming families to the park for this exciting pumpkin-carving event. All the details, including the history of the site, can be found on our new website, which we are thrilled with. We hope people will use the site to keep up-to-date with all the amazing activities the park and gardens have to offer to residents and visitors.”
For more information about the Friends Group and the Radipole Parks and Garden Project, please visit the new website here.
You can also find out more about the project on our website here.
