The garden in front of Lockwood House is looking lovely this spring. The trees are in blossom, the flowers are blooming and the lawns beautifully manicured.
The beauty of the garden is due in large measure to the hard work of husband and wife team Alan and Jane Dean. The married couple are members of the Lockwood Park Volunteers and took over responsibility for the care of the garden from Ian Fillan who had tended the garden before them for several years. Alan is one of our bowling members and captain of the Works League team.
In the left of the top photo you can see a monument topped by a carved masonry arch from the old Bentley and Shaw’s Brewery. This was built by our groundsman Martin Sykes who also cuts the lawns. Recently the low wall which surrounds the garden has been topped with new coping stones laid by Martin. The new wall defines the garden very neatly.
Another interesting feature found in the garden is the man-hole entrance to the old brewery water storage tanks. These are very sizable and extend under the road and the first team pitch.
The reason why our site was chosen by Timothy Bentley as a location for his brewery in 1795 was the Horse Bank Spring which provided a pure source of water for his beer. The spring is still flowing strongly and runs through a culvert into the dam alongside Brewery Drive. The entrance to the spring chamber can be seen in the photo immediately behind the Bentley and Shaw monument.
The memorials
Three memorials are found in the central flower bed. The most recent is a plaque in memory of former club president Alan Ibberson who passed away last year. The first commemorates the life of Dennis Drake. He was the Bass Brewery project manager who supervised the redesign of the property in 1984/85. The blossom tree was planted by his friends when he died. The other is a rugby ball shaped plaque remembering former first team centre Eddie Bygott who was a close friend of Ian Fillan.
There is so much of historical interest on our amazing sports grounds and grateful thanks go to Alan, Jane and the other volunteers who do so much good work to preserve the heritage and beauty of the place.
