A historic Guiseley park has become an official part of The Great British Story after winning a grant for thousands of pounds.

Parkinson’s Park has been awarded a Heritage Lottery ‘All Our Stories’ grant of £9,500 to allow the exploration of its geological, cultural and ecological history.

Grants are being awarded by the lottery fund in support of the BBC’s The Great British Story – A People’s History. The scheme is aiming to inspire people to discover more about their own place in history. In the case of Parkinson’s Park the money will be put to a number of uses including information boards, leaflets, material for schools and possibly a film.

The news has delighted the Friends of Parkinson’s Park – a group which celebrated its first birthday at the end of November. The latest boost follows on from the news just weeks ago that the park had been protected from future development after it was removed from the Strategic Housing Land Availability Assessment. The group’s chairwoman Jennifer Kirkby said they were “thrilled” to have received the grant.

“The awarding of the All Our Stories Grant is a really exciting birthday present for us – coupled with the fact that Leeds have taken the Park out of the Strategic Housing Land Availability Assessment (SHLAA),” she said.

“We started the whole project off a year ago, wanting to save and regenerate a space that had historically been given to the ‘People of Guiseley’ by Frank and Albert Parkinson.”

She said the group had been given support by people in Guiseley – many of whom were ‘unsung heroes’. She said: “It is fantastic to see so many more people using the Park.”

The FOPP project will look at the story of the park from the ice age forces that shaped it, through its use in medieval farming, the change from agricultural to industrial society, and 19th and 20th century philanthropy and Practical Idealism.

E-mail parkinsonspark@gmail. com.unteer to help with the research.