Eskdale Park, gifted a century ago, is reborn after 100,000 cubic metres of silt removed

• Eskdale Park has reopened after Cyclone Gabrielle, with 100,000 cubic metres of silt now removed.
• Mayor Sandra Hazlehurst emphasised community involvement in the park’s 10-year management plan.
• The park’s reopening symbolises recovery and hope, with ongoing restoration over the next six to 18 months.

The seeds of a new future for Eskdale and its flood-ravaged valley were symbolically emerging as shoots of grass as Eskdale Park was reopened in a mix of nostalgia on Monday - two years and two days after Cyclone Gabrielle gave it its latest hiding.

The next steps in a new future for Eskdale as Hastings District Mayor Sandra Hazlehurst and cultural adviser Charles Ropitini lead members of the community on to Eskdale Park for its reopening (initially to pedestrians only). Photo / Doug Laing

A blessing was held on Monday morning, in grey but eventually drizzling weather. With 100,000 cubic metres of Gabrielle’s silt removed in the last 24 months, it’s initially for pedestrians only, as the grass is given its chance to take hold.

But there won’t be any hiatus while the grass is growing, Hastings District Council Mayor Sandra Hazlehurst reaffirming the “revisiting” of the Draft Eskdale Park Reserve Management Plan with the community, to be formally adopted as a 10-year plan.

“There is money in the budget for us to do what the community would like to see here,” she said, reminding six pupils of Eskdale School among the gathering of their part in the future of the park, one of numerous reserves devastated in Hawke’s Bay in the cyclone.

“You will be bringing your children and your grandchildren here.”

It was fairly obvious among a gathering sheltered by a gazebo alongside the oval that homes the (artificial) cricket pitch, found under that silt and seemingly likely to again see the gentlemen’s game as a cornerstone of park activity.

That’s been a regular summer activity for perhaps more than a century since the park was gifted by Thomas and Sarah Clark, for the use of “everyone”, said descendant Phil Holt.

It was also close to the hearts of the children, who spoke to the gathering of about 40, none of the pupils any older than 11-12 years, recalling their own use of the park for the annual cross-country, athletics and picnics, or cricket with the family.

Eskdale School pupil Mia Kersley remembers the good days at Eskdale Park and imagines some more in the future. Photo / Doug Laing

They all spoke of their experiences of the park – one of the “four seasons in one day” for the cross-country run by the school, which ranks as one of the oldest in New Zealand, dating back to 1859.

Colton Bennett recalled the family cricket, the “playground, the river, and the shade of the trees”, and the older generations would recall the much-wider use of the park by other schools, and the annual company Christmas picnics, with three-legged races, the egg-and-spoon, the lolly-scramble, and the treasure hunts.

The importance and impact wasn’t lost on the mayor, who said: “I remember coming from Hastings every Boxing Day, having a wonderful day by the river.

“This is what we will have again,” she said, airing a tribute to those who had passed and those who had faced such hardship since the devastation of February 14, 2023.

She said the council had hoped to reopen the park before Christmas, but the hot weather of early December delayed the growth.

“Now we can see the green shoots of hope are growing through,” she said. “As the [Silt Recovery] taskforce’s work in the valley is nearing an end, the council will take over the restoration of the rest of the park over the next six to 18 months. This is part of our recovery, part of our healing.”

Holt said: “We will all enjoy this again, this lovely spot.”

Doug Laing is a senior reporter based in Napier with Hawke’s Bay Today, and has 52 years of journalism experience, 42 of them in Hawke’s Bay, in news gathering, including breaking news, sports, local events, issues, and personalities.