FESTIVAL GARDENS

A former household 'tip' located adjacent to the Mersey was transformed into the UK's first ever garden festival in 1984. The International Garden Festival was a concept designed to regenerate Liverpool and drive tourism following the huge industrial decline and Toxteth riots.

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During a five month pageant, the Festival Gardens attracted some 3.4M visitors, with its huge mix of ornamental gardens from all over the world and the grand centrepiece, Festival Hall.

When the festival was over, a large part of the gardens were redeveloped to form residential housing. The remaining gardens were left derelict and fell into disrepair in 1997. 

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In late 2023, a new volunteer community group 'Friends of Festival Gardens' was created locally to bring some love and care to this park. Kristel joined this great initiative and has been helping out with retouching the welcome sign to the Japanese Gardens, re-painting the Moon Wall, bringing back to life the Chinese characters behind the moon wall, painting wooden benches and general tidying up around this beautiful space.

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The Group is always in the look out for volunteers to join and show these gardens some love. There are weekdays and weekends calls if you fancy making some new friends and lend a hand. 

More info can be found via the Facebook Group Friends of Liverpool Gardens