Christmas Concert 2019: Michael Porter Photography Winckley Square Times

Friends of Winckley Square Welcome to our first Newsletter of 2020. We look forward to running some special events in the gardens this year. Our last event of 2019 was the Christmas Concert which was a huge success and attended by Issue 16 | February / March 2020 hundreds of people. We are very grateful to have received financial support from WSCIC and BID which meant we could have a grand finale of sound and light, which was incredible. Meet Paul Rushton This is the 16th edition of our bi-monthly newsletter. I was born and raised in Lancaster and Some of you are on my mailing list and receive it attended Lancaster Royal Grammar School electronically; others read it on our website. We in the mid to late 1960s. I gained a degree intend to reduce our carbon footprint so, as from in Chemical Engineering at Leeds University and went on to work in industry. For the issue 17, we will no longer be posting copies through last 20 years of my working life I was a letterboxes in the locality. However, we are aware that specialist inspector with the Health and many of our supporters prefer a paper copy so we Safety Executive before retiring in 2012. will continue to produce a smaller print run of paper copies and these can be collected from the Harris, the I have lived in Penwortham for 41 years so it is safe to say I know Winckley Pavilion in Avenham Park, the Town Hall, St Wilfrid’s Square well. I first became aware of the Church, Chapel Street, Lancashire Archives and some improvements to the Gardens in late 2016 local businesses. Please email me if you wish to be when I went on one of the heritage guided placed on my mailing list to receive an electronic copy. walks when we were told the grand reopening of the Gardens was to Our Guided Walks and Talks introduce many be a Victorian Fair planned in January 2017. As a member of Preston remarkable men and women who were born, lived, Photographic Society (PPS) I saw this as an opportunity for society worked or were associated with Winckley Square in members to practise their event photography and for the Winckley some way. We continue to research and find out more. Square project to have a photographic record of the event and offered to In this edition we feature Sir John Eldon Gorst: knight, set the wheels in motion. The day was very successful and a selection of barrister and politician who served as Solicitor General prints from the photographers were exhibited in Avenham Park Pavilion for England and Wales, Consul-General in Egypt, later in the spring. Vice-President of the Committee on Education. Steve This was the start of collaborations between PPS and the Friends. Along Harrison writes about just one or two aspects of his with other members of Preston Photographic Society we have worked life. You will be able to read more about Sir John’s life on lots of exciting projects including ‘Inside Out’ which resulted in an on our website. exhibition at the Harris showing the insides of eight of the buildings in the Square. As well as being involved in projects you will always find a Thank you for all your kind comments about our member of PPS at events run in the gardens. new website. We are adding to it as our research As a keen amateur photographer, it’s great to be involved with the progresses. This month we have added Nathaniel Friends of Winckley Square and be able to make a contribution to some Miller who lived and practised dentistry on Winckley of their very interesting projects and great work that they do. Square and was responsible for the building of the Miller Arcade in the city centre. He is also the subject of two Scandalous Stories on the website written by Interested in volunteering to help at Keith Johnson. If you would like to join our research events, joining our Research Group, or team and contribute, please do contact me. Enjoy being placed on our mailing list to receive browsing www.winckleysquarepreston.org newsletters and details of events? Please email [email protected]

Patricia Harrison @WinckleySquare Friendsofwinckleysquaregardens Chair of Friends of Winckley Square We love seeing your photos of the Square; tag Email: [email protected] #friendsofwinckleysquare on Instagram. Sir John Eldon Gorst 1835 -1916 Preston Grammar School 1854: Preston Digital Archive Digital Grammar School 1854: Preston Preston by Steve Harrison

Some people with JEG’s impact nationally followed the strong links to the major extension of the male franchise Square featured in in 1867 through the Second Reform Act events on a national passed by a Conservative government. scale. John Eldon It extended the vote to all householders Gorst (JEG) was and lodgers in boroughs who paid key to the national rent of £10 a year or more. It also organisation of local enabled agricultural landowners and political parties tenants with very small amounts throughout the 20th 1 Chapel Street (now 1a, Harrison Drury Solicitors) of land to vote. Lord Derby (whose David Hull: Preston Photographic Society Century. statue is in Miller Park) was PM and The Gorst family were at the centre of legal and administrative was Chancellor. affairs in the county at the beginning of the 19th Century. The expectation was that by passing "Tory organisation". JEG’s father, Edward Chaddock Gorst, built 1, Chapel Street, the reform the Conservatives would Caricature by Spy published in Vanity Fair in 1880: Wikipedia the fourth house to be built on the Square, his younger benefit, in fact they then lost the 1868 brother John Gorst then built 6, Winckley Square. The building election. is currently being converted into apartments. JEG, MP for Cambridge, had opposed the extension of the JEG attended Preston franchise. He lost his seat. He then hoped to stand in his Grammar School, on Cross native Preston in 1872 but the party wanted the seat for John Street, where he edited Holker who represented Preston to his death in 1881. the pupils’ newspaper. JEG was asked by Disraeli to set about changing the party. Much of what he JEG had recognised that the party needed to harness the published was scurrilous vote of these new electors. The party transformed from and actually written by his fighting elections on an ‘ad hoc’ basis to one with permanent father. The Headmaster local associations, always ready to fight an election. JEG banned the publication! encouraged the establishment of Conservative Working Men’s At Cambridge he was in Clubs especially in Lancashire & Yorkshire; recognising that trouble for hosting rowdy unless the party could appeal to urban working class voters parties. When the Dean its support base would be too small. He established the punished him, he and his Conservative Central Office in 1871 and created professional support for the Party. friends screwed the Dean’s In the NE corner of Winckley Square, door to the frame so he opposite No 6, stand the remains When the Conservatives came to couldn’t get out. He was of a horse chestnut tree: planted by power in 1885 under Lord Salisbury active as a Conservative at John Gorst in 1835 on the birth of JEG was made Solicitor-General and his nephew, John Eldon. Cambridge but held views knighted. Photo: Paul Rushton that often clashed with his JEG was subsequently elected as MP fellow party members. for Chatham and later for Cambridge Funded by his father, he travelled widely but when his University. He held numerous senior father was taken ill he returned home, took a job (unpaid) roles in government. He shifted during at Rossall School and stayed with his father until his father’s his career from a right wing Conservative death in 1859; whereupon he set off for as a to a Liberal, standing as a Liberal in Preston lay missionary. He fell in love with a girl called Mary Elizabeth in 1910 where he was well beaten by two Moore on the ship to Australia, proposed while at sea and Conservatives. His work for the Conservative married her later in Australia. There followed missionary Party shaped how all political parties in Britain work in New Zealand where he was active in supporting the would be organised for years to come. Mugs and other objects Governor in protecting the interests of the Maori people. reminded voters who to In the 1910 election JEG called for the vote for! JEG was critical of government treatment of the Maori and abolition of the House of Lords but, following when fighting broke out he left New Zealand for Australia and his defeat, he wrote to Winston Churchill and asked him to onward to Britain. put in a good word with the PM for JEG as a possible peer! International Women’s Day 2020

The first International Women's Day was held in different countries in 1911. Walks and Talks Since then every year International Women's Day falls on 8th March; celebrating the achievements of women and their contributions to society. The 2020 International Women's Day will focus on the theme, Nordic Walkers braved the weather on last year’s International Women’s Day Guided Walk. 'An equal world is an enabled Guided Walks Sunday 8th March world'. It offers an opportunity Walks start in the centre of the Gardens. to reflect on progress made and to celebrate acts of courage and Edith Rigby Trail determination by women who have 10am – 12noon • Guide: Judy Beeston An opportunity to find out more about Preston’s most famous played an extraordinary role in suffragette, her childhood, her marriage, her time as a suffragette and fighting bias and improving the lives her war work, including refreshments where Edith and Charles were married. of others. There are women who lived and worked in Winckley Square who Extraordinary Women of Winckley Square ‘made a difference’. 2pm – 3.15pm • Guide: Patricia Harrison Meet some women who might rightly be seen as Why not pioneers including Ellen Cross who combined make a day of it motherhood with business and management skills and come on both that have helped shape Winckley Square and East walks with a break Preston. Cornelia Connelly’s life is a mix of deep for lunch in one tragedy, public shaming, the burning of her effigy of Preston’s great and legal struggles that fascinated the newspapers restaurants? of the day. Nevertheless she oversaw the creation of a caring education system for many of Preston’s children. Beatrice Todd; suffragist, led the organisation that provided the station buffet during WWI. She fought for mother and baby care at a time when men were dying on the battlefield and their babies were dying from inadequate provision in Preston.

Talk Monday 9th March St Wilfrid’s Parish Centre, Chapel Street. (Directions: Chapel Street: through entrance gates and then on the left.) Extraordinary Women of Winckley Square Exhibition The Lot of a Woman in a Man’s World 2.30pm – 3.45pm • Speaker: Susan Douglass Harris Museum, Art Gallery and Library Virtually every aspect of English life between 1674 and 1913 was influenced by gender. Views about the particular strengths, weaknesses, 1st - 13th March 2020 and responsibilities of each sex shaped everyday lives. A woman’s lot was of many obligations and few choices. Some compared it to a form of slavery. Hear how some women overcame adversity and succeeded. The Friends of Winckley Square have researched many of the women who lived, worked or were associated with the Square. You can just turn up but to be assured a place please Learn about some of their untold stories which book on Eventbrite www.eventbrite.co.uk OR contact will fascinate, surprise and possibly shock you. £4 [email protected] • 01772 254395 per person The Exhibition will be in the cafe area. ToTonyny’s’s UpdaUpdatete!!

It seems gone are the days of cold crisp winters when, from While not at its most ‘showy’ around mid-November, hard frosts saw gardens shutting now there is still a lot of Photo: Paul Rushton down for the winter. Much of modern life takes place in an interest, you just have to look a artificial environment with adjustable heating and lighting. little harder. We have colour from the mahonia, wallflowers, It’s easy to become divorced from our surroundings and to clumps of primroses, Christmas roses and even the first make judgements on how things are ‘outside the window’. snowdrop to raise its dainty head. And on warmer days, you We only ‘feel’ how things really are when we step outside and may notice, particularly in the area of the Peel statue, a faint open our senses to the natural environment. The animals, and but heady musky smell from the small delicate flowers of the particularly the plants, are a more accurate barometer and give Christmas or sweet box. Over time as these bushes grow (only us a better understanding as to what is actually happening in planted 18 months ago) this scent through the winter months the natural world. As plants can’t change their environment will only intensify. they have to adapt. Many do this by, in effect, going to sleep. Why not take time out on your next visit and if you look hard Sounds like a very good idea to me! you may find, tucked in a metaphorical corner, some small Milder weather changes what is happening in the Gardens. hidden gems to delight in? Some of our summer herbaceous plants are still trying to grow, which then gives us the dilemma of when to cut back? Normally we don’t cut back plants that are growing unless they are in full vigour; growing strongly. Cutting back can wound and damage the plant. Some plants, such as sedum, that naturally died back have started to shoot. Nothing we can do but hope when we have Primroses Wallflower Christmas Rose a cold snap it doesn’t do too All photos: Tony Lewis much damage. Plants can be remarkably We welcome volunteer gardeners. If you would like resilient, even those that over Sedum to help and get your hands dirty, then please time have been imported from get in touch with [email protected] originally warmer foreign climes. Community Group, Friends or Family Day Out The McGrath family enjoyed their meal in a local If you are planning a special event for family and friends or a get together restaurant after their guided walk. for a group you work with why not book a Guided Walk and follow it with a meal at one of the local restaurants? Some families get together only a few times a year so why not do something different?

Or if your group would like to invite one of our FoWS speakers to talk Galloway’s Society for the Blind. Everyone enjoyed about Winckley Square and its environs please contact me: the Guided Walk on a fine dry day. You can see tour [email protected] guides Steve and Peter kept their audience amused!

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