West Smethwick Park

The Chance memorial

Drinking fountain

West Smethwick Park is a public park in the St Pauls ward of Smethwick, England.^[1] It opened on 7 September 1895.

Smethwick - and thus the park - was traditionally in Staffordshire, but has been administrated by Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Council, as pert of the West Midlands county, since 1974.

In June 2015, it was announced that a £4.8 million Heritage Lottery Fund grant had been reserved for the park, subject to final approval. It would allow for the restoration of the pavilion, bandstand and memorials.^[2]

Memorials

The park features a memorial, in brick and terracotta, with a bronze bust, to Sir James Timmins Chance, a partner in the nearby glass-making firm, Chance Brothers. Chance purchased the land for the park. Beneath the bust is a plaque reading:

James T. Chance
M.A J.P. D.L.
For fifty years a partner in the firm 
of Chance Brothers & Co. 
at the Glass Works Smethwick 
and the Alkali Works, Oldbury
He purchased the land for the park, 
laid it out and endowed it 
and on September 7th 1895 opened it
A gift to the public for ever.
He also made the roads on its East and West boundaries.

A stone drinking fountain commemorates John Chance, chairman of Chance Brothers, who died in November 1900.^[3] There is also a memorial to Ft Sgts Cox and Preston, who crashed nearby on 31 July 1944.

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to West Smethwick Park.