Ebbw Vale Garden Festival
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The Ebbw Vale Garden Festival of Wales (National Garden Festival 1992) attracted over two million visitors to this small town in South Wales.
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[edit] What were the National Garden Festivals?
The National Garden Festivals were a high-profile 1980s initiative by the then Conservative Government in response to criticism of their alleged neglect of areas hit by the decline of heavy industry. Environment Minister Michael Heseltine proposed that derelict land should be reclaimed for a Garden Festival as a symbol of the rebirth of such areas. The festivals were held every two years. The first such Festival was held in Liverpool in 1984. Subsequent festivals were held in Stoke-on-Trent (1986) and Glasgow (1988) and Gateshead (1990). The festivals were highly successful in attracting millions of visitors from all over the country to industrial areas long ignored by British tourists. However they did not always lead to the hoped-for long-term injection of private investment in the affected areas.
[edit] Why Ebbw Vale?
Ebbw Vale was chosen as the last British Garden Festival site (1992) because of the waste land which had been the British Steel (Corus) steel and tin works, demolished in the early 1980s.
[edit] The Festival
It started 1 May 1992 and ended 4 October 1992. As well as gardens, plant exhibitions and fairground-style attractions the festival also featured a funicular railway, the Ebbw Vale Garden Festival Funicular.
[edit] The Garden Festival Now
The Festival Park (Garden Festival) site is now occupied by over 1000 houses, a fishing lake, Festival Church, an owl sanctuary, Mother Earth, woodlands and a shopping centre.
