Going Up In The World

The official opening of New Ferry Butterfly Park in 1995.

Photo: Michael Loughnane.

1995 was European Nature Conservation Year. This was when Mel Roberts, the Butterfly Park’s founder, invited Lyndon Harrison, West Cheshire MEP at the time, to preside at the official opening of New Ferry Butterfly Park to the public. Preparations at the Park had been going on for two years, securing the boundaries, setting out the paths and starting vegetation management. At the time Mr Harrison said “This seems to be a good example of what we are trying to do this year. When local communities get off their backsides to do something for the environment we all gain from it”. As a thank you Lyndon was presented with a picture of a clouded yellow butterfly, a very rare immigrant to the Park, but on the wing at the Park that year. The opening event was a proud moment for Mel, who had persistently campaigned for over two decades for this nature reserve to get under way. What patience!

Around 200 people attended the opening event. There was a double decker bus, which impressively turned around on the road in the Park. The bus brought a troupe of players from St John Plessington High School who performed a play on railway line safety entitled “Do not cross the lines”. At the time the railway fencing at the park was not as secure as it is now and the park and railway line was used as a shortcut to Plessington High School.

The hedges then were merely whips barely poking above the competing grass. Only the lower section of the Park had paths. The grass was rather rough tussock grass without sight of a buttercup or red clover. In many ways a rather rough looking reserve.

The Park has been transformed tremendously in the last 20 years. Mel’s dream has carried on beyond his wildest expectations. Lyndon Harrison’s confidence in opening the Park in 1995 has been amply repaid; who knew at the time how it would develop or even how long it would continue?

On 9th August at 12 noon, to celebrate 20 years of the Park being open to the public, there will be a community BBQ. Please join us and bring along a contribution. There will be garden and environmental games to play and a display on the development of the Park over the last 20 years. 

Lyndon Harrison will return to help us celebrate. Like New Ferry Butterfly Park, he has come up in the world, as Lyndon is now Lord Baron Harrison of Chester. We hope to see as many of you as possible there. It has been a long and successful project, but there are still many opportunities to increase both the habitat quality and the participation of the public and volunteers at the Park. The initial enthusiasm for this project has not diminished over the last 20 years. In fact it has burnt even brighter as the Park’s potential has been recognised.

Mel Roberts (right), and his granddaughter Hanna,
presenting Lyndon Harrison with a picture of a Clouded Yellow butterfly
Photo: Michael Loughnane.

Paul Loughnane