Friends of the Countess of Chester Country Park are pleased to be chosen to have the Cheshire’s Wonderful Wildlife posters by Nicky Thompson in the Countess Park

The Friends of the Countess of Chester Country Park are thrilled to have been chosen by the Mid Cheshire Community Rail Partnership to host the 12 wonderful posters entitled ‘Cheshire’s Wonderful Wildlife’ by artist Nicky Thompson in the Country Park for the next two years. The posters are A0 in size and will be sited along a half mile circular trail starting at The Friendly Bench, entering the hospital grounds and then returning around the far side of the Nature Reserve and the main path to the start.

Andy Scargill, chair of the Friends of the Countess of Chester Country Park commented:

“We first saw these in the grounds of the Tatton Hall National Trust gardens in Autumn 2020. We then came across them again in June 2023 when we represented The Friendly Bench CIC at the opening of a new bench in Vickersway Park in Northwich. We felt that they fitted in so well with the work we have been doing with our partners, The Conservation Volunteers (TCV), in improving biodiversity and habitats on our site for wildlife that they would be perfect for us. They also fitted in with our desire to bring more art into the park and to use this to, not only create interest, but also to improve the health & wellbeing of our visitors. We purposely chose a route which nurses & support workers from Bowmere (adult mental health) and Ancora House (Children’s mental health) walk with the patients in their care. It is our hope that looking at the posters will give opportunities for support workers and patients to talk about the animals featured on them and maybe think about where they might be living.

Morag Scargill from the Friends of team said, “Having visited the posters at Tatton Park I was really inspired by them and hoped that one day they could come to the Countess of Chester Country Park where I felt they would be so relevant to the ethos of what we are trying to achieve.

“We’d like to offer a huge thanks the Mid Cheshire Community Rail Partnership who commissioned & own them, Northwich Town Council who had them prior to us and of course Nicky Thompson who designed them for their help in making this happen.

The boards were removed in January and have been cleaned ready to be installed. This will take place during March and the art trail will be officially opened in April so watch this space. If anyone would wish to make a contribution towards the installation costs of the trail it would be much appreciated, please contact friends.coccp@gmail.com for details of how to do this.