A wealth of Romsey history

It astounds me that I have now lived in and around the Hampshire market town, and royal borough of Romsey for more than 40 years. It’s royal charter was bestowed by King James 1 in 1607.

What I find satisfying is that while maintaining the character of a small market town it has a wealth of natural areas, parks, walks and cycle ways – though you will not have seen me on a bike for a good few months (years). But I applaud the borough fathers for their policy of planting which brightens up the town, whilst trees and shrubs help wildlife to thrive.

The War Memorial Park just off the town centre is a traditional public urban park, beautifully maintained and created some 94 years ago from a five acre meadow locally known as Street Mead. It is surrounded on three sides by the world renowned River Test.

My picture shows the bandstand as well as the war memorial in the background and it is one of my regular venues for a two mile work out and calorie burning walk from the town centre on a Sunday.

The park's facilities include a cafe, lawn bowls club, fishing, formal gardens, inclusive children's playground, tennis courts, toilets and seating. An 150mm Japanese field gun is sited in the park, donated by the late Lord Mountbatten who’s home was at Broadlands on the edge of the town, and who received the gun when he was Supreme Allied Commander of the South East Asia command on surrender of the Japanese forces. The current bandstand is based on original Victoria castings.

I am encouraged that this coming Tuesday evening, September 23, the Borough Council is hosting a tree walk in the park to identify and explain the history of the many trees. They have been planted where back in the 1920s there were few or none. Some have been planted for landscaping, others for commemorative reasons.