Rowntree Park: family album shows "happy, carefree days"

Lynne's gran Flo Mason lived off Bishopthorpe Road - a short hop from the York park.

Lynne, now aged 67 and living in New Earswick, said: "It seemed like every day was a sunny day in summer! We would take a picnic to the park and be there for the day.

"We would watch the bowls and the small animals in cages. There were guinea pigs and rabbits and birds. I think they perished in a flood and were not replaced."

Lynne would go down to the park with a jam jar and rod and fish sticklebacks out of the lake.

Lynne with her mum in 1960 with baby sister Yvonne - Lynne holding her sticklebacks caught in the lake at Rowntree Park

There is a photo of her with her fishing kit sitting on a bench in the park next to her mum Jean Murfitt and baby sister Yvonne in 1960.

"I fished for sticklebacks - and never fell in! They were tiny things, about an inch long with a red breast and spikes up the back."

Lynne also recalled playing in the former Victorian bandstand. "There was a pile of fold-up green chairs in there - they were lethal as could take your finger off!"

Another favourite past-time was going out on the paddle boats with her cousins, Heather Wardell and Hazel Wainwright.

She has some black and white photos of them boating together on the lake at Rowntree Park in the late 50s.

Lynne, in ribbons, on a paddle boats with her cousins in Rowntree Park in the late 1950s

Lynne said: "You would pay to take out the boat and there was a little handle and the paddles would go round like a paddle steamer to propel you forward. You'd stay out until someone announced on a loudhailer: 'Come in number six, your time is up'!"

One part of the park she didn't try was the park's open air pool. "I never went in. I was water phobic. But when you were on the swings in the park you could hear everyone having a wonderful time in the pool."

She also sent us a photo of a horse and cart ride in the park - with the pool in the background.

On a pony and cart ride at Rowntree Park

She added: "They were happy, carefree days - with ice creams, picnics. I would play while my mum and gran would sit and knit and watch the bowls."

Lynne said her dad Cyril often had a camera in his hand so there were many family photos at the park. "Either he took a photo, or someone else did," she said.

It means she has a treasured collection of snaps of the park going right back to one of her great grandfather Harry Mason from the late 1930s.

Lynne's great grandfather Harry Mason worked at Cravens - circa 1939

The park was officially opened by Joseph Rowntree in the summer of 1921 and is celebrating its centenary this year.

Other striking photos from Lynne's family album show her father Cyril posing by the lake in his Sunday best with her as a newborn baby in 1953.

Lynne as a baby with her dad Cyril Murfitt at Rowntree Park in 1953

And there is a charming one of Lynne as a toddler with mum Jean who is trying to help her take her first steps.

Baby steps at Rowntree Park - Lynne being taught to walk by your mum Jean Mason in 1953

Another snap has Jean taking little Lynne to the park in her pushchair to feed to ducks.

Lynne in her pushchair with her mum Jean around 1954 - and feeding the ducks at Rowntree Park

Rolling back the years further there is another special photo showing Lynne's mum Jean as a baby in the arms of her parents - Flo and Bertie Mason, Lynne's grandparents.

Lynne's mum Jean Mason with parents Flo and Bertie Mason in 1932

And another one of Flo, this time with Jean, aged eight, and her brother Noel, with other family members.

Lynne's mum Jean at Rowntree park aged 88 - and 8!

And another happy photo shows Lynne's uncle Malcolm Murfitt as a child being served Capaldi's ice cream outside Rowntree Park.

Capaldi's ice cream outside Rowntree Park - Lynne's uncle Malcolm Murfitt being served

Lynne's gran had a house on Caroline Street, which is no longer in existence. "It was knocked down and compulsory purchased in 1965," said Lynne.

The house may be gone - but Rowntree Park remains very much at the heart of York life.

And may it do so for another 100 years - and counting.

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