Explore the Coast and "Country" Side of Bideford Bay
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Home Page Bideford Travel & Tourism Bideford Music Day	A Park for All Seasons
	Take time to stroll around this delightful park which was opened in 1912 to celebrate Queen Victoria's reign. The Park and flowerbeds are carefully tended throughout the seasons, the photos here were taken over a decade between 2003 and 2013. In Spring and early Summer there is also a spectacular display of colour from a variety of flowering shrubs. This is also when the old Magnolia and Cherry Trees blossom. This is an ideal family park with something for all ages including a variety of recreational facilities, a children's play area, open-air paddling pool and skateboard park. While the children play you can plan the rest of your day in peaceful surroundings. This is an ideal opportunity to read through the leaflets you collected when you visited the Information Centre! The park has many historical features. The nine cannon surrounding the band stand are believed to have been captured from the Spaniards in the Armada, a tree was planted in 1944 to mark the good relations between Bideford residents and US Army personnel who were stationed in Bideford from 1940-1944. The centrepiece of Victoria Park is a massive ancient Oak tree. 2005 marked the centenary of this sturdy tree which was planted as an acorn in 1905 by the youngsters of the town’s infants school, seven years before the Park opened to the public and a year before the statue of Charles Kingsley was unveiled. This splendid tree has been a colourful backdrop for hundreds of local events and generations of children have played under it's ever-budding boughs. A Commemorative Plaque nearby reads: This tree was grown from an acorn by the children in the Church Infants School, Bideford AD 1905. There are also rose beds dedicated to the late Princess Diana and a Millennium Time Capsule is buried near the park entrance. In 2011 Bideford Town Band took up residence in the former Tourist Information Centre building on the corner of the Park. It is the first time in the band's 150 year history, that it has owned its own building. A parade from their old home at the Pannier Market down to their new practice room marked the occasion. Bideford Tourist Information Centre moved to the Burton Art Gallery in 2008. In 2012 a tree was planted by the Lions Club of Bideford to commemorate the Diamond Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II. On 24th June 2013, Torridge District Council staged a parade to mark the start of Armed Forces Week. The Bideford Armed Forces Day Parade along Bideford Quay was followed by a flag raising ceremony in Victoria Park. You can find out more about Bideford it's history and events from the Information Centre which is now located in the Burton Art Gallery & Museum. While you're there you can call in for refreshments at the the Cafe du Parc, which serves, coffee, lunches and teas. The main gallery has a lively programme of local and national touring exhibitions and craft work and is also now home to the new Bideford Museum. There is a cricket club down the other side of the park and a bowls club which was originally established in 1950, the Men’s and Ladies clubs merged in 2005 to form the mixed Bideford Victoria Park Bowling Club.
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