Ah, Peel. Do you know it for the lazy summer days spent out on the grass with herbal refreshments and snacks, reading textbooks or novels, chatting the afternoon away with chums in the hazy summer heat and moving onto the Pint Pot for a sharpener in the beer garden? Or do you know it via clinging onto your personal alarm for dear life as you hastily traverse the darkened and frightening pathway to Castle Irwell Student Village? Rather like a masked vigilante... or accountant... Peel Park takes on an entirely different persona when night falls.
Throughout my years as a University of Salford student, I looked to the park with caution. All I heard were complaints from my fellow classmates about having to walk through it after dark and fearing for their lives. In fact students went on a protest walk with torches to ensure their safety in this park as it's the quickest route to a lot of student accommodation. But it wasn't until I got a job as a university ambassador that I actually had to learn a little history about the park, as well as point visitors in its direction. And do you know what? Let's just say for the record that it's silly to walk around on your own after dark *anywhere*. That is what the Salford University excellent free bus service is for. It takes you to every single university site. Therefore there's no need to be walking here after dark. And now that we've got that out of the way, maybe I should tell you how I really feel about it.
The five stars tell you everything you need to know. This is a vast and beautiful park that any university, nay, any city for that matter, would be lucky to have. Enter Peel Park, even stand on the edge of it as I used to do on my university tours, and you don't feel as if you're in an urban environment. Enveloped my old university buildings and with the gorgeous greenery behind you, you can't even hear the traffic of the nearby dual carriageway. And I can provide you with this personal insight - prospective students and their parents gasped with glee, smiled, said things like, 'Wow' and 'That's beautiful'. The park is extremely well maintained by Salford City Council and is full of delightful topiary and gorgeous flowerbed arrangements. It's a perfect spot to stop for a picnic in the summer or take a frosty, cosy wrapped up walk in the winter.
Peel Park was actually one of the first three public parks for the people of Salford and Manchester to be opened back in 1846. Since then it has thrived, and I came upon the knowledge that I only knew a small part of it. To my surprise it leads to football pitches complete with changing rooms, it contains the Marie Curie Field of Hope, a flood obelisk, a section of the Irwell Valley sculpture trail and a well-equipped play area for 4-14 year olds. It's also surrounded by a number of breathtakingly pretty buildings including the Peel building on campus, a truly amazing building that it lit up from below at night and provides rather a spectacle, and the Salford Museum and Art Gallery.
Who said Salford was grotty and urban? Be gone with you. We have a much nicer park than any of those trampy ones in Manchester City Centre. So there. read more
