In January 1908 the Parks Committee decided that £15 would be included in the next financial year's estimates to provide rough tables and seats at certain sites in the park, with facilities for boiling water.[1]
In the event, picnic tables were provided on the west bank of the lake, roughly opposite the present day Highfield Road, where later there was a children's playground. Close by was a shelter, to which a gas supply was installed in June 1908.[2] A penny-in-the slot meter was provided for picnic parties to use a gas stove to obtain hot water. The agreement with the gas supply company was for the Council to collect the money from the slot meter and pay for the gas according to an ordinary meter.[3]
The picnic site proved so popular during the summer of 1911 that in his report to the Parks Committee in September of that year, the Parks Superintendent recommended that three more stoves be provided. By the summer of 1912, there were so many people using these picnicing facilities that in his June 1912 report the Parks Superintendent recommended that a urinal and lavatories be provided.[4]
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