THE Press on the May 18 included an item on page 3 headlined ‘Park set for big 100th celebration’.

The item referred to the centenary of Rowntree Park but it regrettably failed to mention the fundamental significance of the centennial date.

Rowntree Park is in fact a memorial, and on the July 16, 1921, was “given to the City by Rowntree and Co.Ltd. at the close of the Great War (1914-1918) as a tribute to the memory of those members of the Company’s staff who… served their country in her hour of need”.

These words are cast into the commemorative panel housed in the Grade II listed lychgate in the centre of the park.

Here also is recorded the dedication of the fine wrought iron gates at the Terry Avenue entrance to the memory of “those from the Cocoa Works who lost their lives in the Second World War … and in thanksgiving for the courage and steadfastness of the people of York throughout those years”.

It seems that 100 years on the original purpose of the park has either been forgotten or is not known to the later generations of those originally commemorated. I hope this letter might serve as a reminder.

N A Sinclair,

Cardinal Court,

Bishophill Junior,

York