Whitworth Park
Postcard of Whitworth Park looking towards Oxford Road with the Whitworth Institute in the centre, before the facade was built, c1900.
I joined the Whitworth Art Gallery as Exhibitions Officer later moving into senior management when I started to get more involved with Whitworth Park.
The Gallery had previously been known as the Whitworth Institute before being taken over by the University in 1958. The Institute was established from funds left by Sir Joseph Whitworth, an engineer who made a huge impact on the world through the standardisation of screw threads, and sophisticated measuring machines. The trustees bought ‘Potters Field’ and spent what was then a fortune in laying out the Park, and building a new Gallery to 'Secure a source of perpetual gratification to the people of Manchester & and cultivate taste and knowledge of the Fine Arts of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture.'
Unhappily, the Park slowly declined and, while we were developing plans for the Gallery, we were not able to include the Park in the project. Frustrated by this, I worked with ward councillors, council officers and the local community to establish a new Friends of Whitworth Park group which was able to secure funding for some key infrastructure improvements as well as promote a new secure and ambitious future.
The Gallery had previously been known as the Whitworth Institute before being taken over by the University in 1958. The Institute was established from funds left by Sir Joseph Whitworth, an engineer who made a huge impact on the world through the standardisation of screw threads, and sophisticated measuring machines. The trustees bought ‘Potters Field’ and spent what was then a fortune in laying out the Park, and building a new Gallery to 'Secure a source of perpetual gratification to the people of Manchester & and cultivate taste and knowledge of the Fine Arts of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture.'
Unhappily, the Park slowly declined and, while we were developing plans for the Gallery, we were not able to include the Park in the project. Frustrated by this, I worked with ward councillors, council officers and the local community to establish a new Friends of Whitworth Park group which was able to secure funding for some key infrastructure improvements as well as promote a new secure and ambitious future.