Thanks so much for these photos Brian - I had forgotten the Rose Garden pond with the large steps to get to the middle. They so fascinated me as a child and it made the whole park seem like such a magical place. I left for Canada in 1971 and I'm getting a huge rush of nostalgia looking through this site.

I wonder if anyone knows that the Rose Garden refurbishment/restoration was paid for by a southern housing (£50,000) sweetner to build Wellend Villas on nearby Springfield Road.

As a resident of Wellend Villas, I can confirm this. It is the British form of bribery. Of course Southern Housing simply passed the cost on to the low paid keyworkers who could hardly afford to buy 25% of a flat. Basically, each resident had to contribute about £600 each to the rose garden! As much as we all enjoy living near it, we pay council tax like other people and should not have had to pay extra for the rose garden.