March 2022

Our beautiful Park is mainly covered by lush verdant grass but necessarily there are the official tarmacadamed pathways around and across it. The pathway all the way round the Park is reckoned to be exactly a mile give or take.

However, over the years I and many others have created two unofficial people’s paths by assiduously tramping through the woods in the north eastern and north western parts of the Park, often overgrown and nearly invisible. Then one day without notice the Council decided to mow the paths giving them semi official status, like the routes of people in ancient times morphing into official rights of way or even roads. The Council moves in mysterious ways and people’s power works.

However, this not the end of the story. At the beginning of the pandemic suddenly there appeared paths running parallel to and about a yard away from the official pathways at the north western and north eastern official pathways ways in the Park. They were established in next to no time. Perhaps it was to enable joggers to social distance or maybe they preferred the softer grounds. It is unlikely the Council will upgrade these. Let’s celebrate people power and our people’s paths.