When: 2014

Where: The Garden Festival

I took a little walk through the park and my past (I guess) as I remembered what used to be. Having never been in years, I thought it would be good to spark some memories.

The Garden Festival, or the Fessie which is what I know it as, is definitely the park of my childhood. Growing up we moved a lot, but the majority of the houses were around the area where this park is.(The Teams) I call it the Garden Festival as back in the day (1990) it was home to a massive garden festival, opened by Princess Anne, which saw many visitors flocking to it.

When we were really small I remembered a barbed wired fence. You could squeeze through one end of it and end up at a little pond part. My memories are a bit hazy, but I remember seeing tadpoles and little fish. To me at the time it was an enchanted garden, a special, magical place. In reality it was a place filled with broken beer bottles and sharp edges.

These days there's graffiti everywhere, the water is dirty brown, there's smells about the place. It's broken and old and stripped of its glory. To me, it seems fitting. It reminds me that things don't stay the same way forever, that time changes things, that I'm no longer a kid, despite how hard I try not to be the adult I'm supposed to be. (Wow we got a bit deep pretty fast there, sorry.)

For me though, whenever I think of the Garden Festival I can't help but smile. I think of the times spent with my brother and cousins, the actual park. Playing on the swings and trying not to throw up on the roundabout. Rolling down the hills trying not to get too dizzy. It's strange how much pull a place can have on you.