Golden Acre Park

Tasa · Post by **Tasa** » Wed 13 Feb, 2013 10:19 pm

That's sad to hear. I believe Max is a "he". A friend of mine was a colleague of his previous owner (from whom he escaped twice to make his eventual home Golden Acre Park) and she always referred to the cat (not sure what his previous name was) as "he".We last saw Max in the late summer - he was resting on a bench near the greenhouse where his food is kept, but wasn't interested in socialising with us.

Jogon · Post by **Jogon** » Wed 13 Feb, 2013 11:43 pm

Thyroid op not a success.On meds for blood pressure tooI love that ol' puss, took my kitty treat there and brought it home again today..Job 8:9we are but of yesterday, and know nothing, because our days upon earth are a shadow

BarFly · Post by **BarFly** » Thu 14 Feb, 2013 7:47 pm

I was at Golden Acre today on my bike and noticed that the bridge has now been stripped back to the arches only but there's still no sign of a repair. The diversion the path takes was fun though as the stream looks like it's about to engulf the path at any second.

raveydavey · Post by **raveydavey** » Thu 14 Feb, 2013 9:48 pm

BarFly wrote: I was at Golden Acre today on my bike and noticed that the bridge has now been stripped back to the arches only but there's still no sign of a repair. The diversion the path takes was fun though as the stream looks like it's about to engulf the path at any second. I seriously think there is no current intention to repair the bridge. It collapsed early on August Bank Holiday Monday and apart from the stripping out of the collapsed bed (which happened a while ago), nothing has been done since.I've posted several pics of it since the collapse, latest here: http://flic.kr/p/dRHjfA and we'll be back at GAP on Sunday for the St Gemma's 'Bark In The Park'.As you say, with recent rainfall and no doubt todays big thaw, the overflow from the lake (Adel Dam) gets very close to overflowing onto the diversionary route. To be fair, I'd be interested to see how that outflow measures up against the latest flood guidelines.

Leodian · Post by **Leodian** » Thu 14 Feb, 2013 11:16 pm

Does anyone know why Golden Acre Park (GAP) is so named? I guess the 'Golden' bit was just to make it sound splendid but why the 'Acre' bit? In the Leeds City website it states GAP "consists of approximately 55 hectares of gardens and mature woodland surrounding an attractive lake". As 55 hectares is about 136 acres that is a much larger area than 1 acre. Though it has been expanded since, even when it opened as a pleasure park in 1932 it must still have been well over 1 acre.I've tried various searches to find out why but have not been readily able to find the reason for the GAP name.

The Parksider · Post by **The Parksider** » Fri 15 Feb, 2013 9:09 am

Leodian wrote: Does anyone know why Golden Acre Park (GAP) is so named? I guess the 'Golden' bit was just to make it sound splendid but why the 'Acre' bit? I think your right.It was no good calling it Black Hill park which is exactly where it is.maybe Golden Acres as a commercially appealing name ended up getting shortened.

Jogon · Post by **Jogon** » Fri 15 Feb, 2013 9:17 am

Good morning LeoI think it was more to do with the Thompson (builders) ambitious plans to develop and build on the 300 acres they acquired from buying Blackhill Well Farm and Breary Grange Farm.This was and is boggy, marshy ground and Golden Acres sounds nicer.Thompsons succeeded in changing the name "Marsh Lane" to Kings Road. There are some isolated blocks of Thompson housing down Kings Rd and on the Otley Rd outbound past GAP.These have a look of the Old Park Rd / Roundhay School houses which they also built.See att'd pic of planned build, although bigger houses and gardens - the shaded areas show how both sides of Kings Rd and left of Otley Rd would have been built up.I think the 'Park' thing was perhaps inspired by Roundhay Park which was acquired and parts sold off/developed for residential to fund the project. Also as Thompsons land wasn't in village Bramhope or part of Leeds it perhaps needed a focal point as it's raison d'être. [edit ps and the park keeper's bungalow used to be 2 storey]

Leodian · Post by **Leodian** » Fri 15 Feb, 2013 7:56 pm

Cheers The Parksider and Jogon.The area immediately next to GAP would now look very much different if development of those roads and estates had gone ahead.

raveydavey · Post by **raveydavey** » Fri 15 Feb, 2013 9:33 pm

I never knew that - cheers guys!

BarFly · Post by **BarFly** » Sat 16 Feb, 2013 12:33 am

I'd like to thank you all for reminding me of Golden Acre as until I read this thread it had been almost 30 years since I last went. Now I plan to go at least in every season to see how things looks, if not every couple of weeks as somewhere to cycle to and de-stress.