After restorations were finally completed, Grosvenor Park is all ready to be opened to the public once again and with the help of a very special guest.

The Duke of Westminster is set to unveil the restorations made to the historic site, a full 147 years after his great ancestor played a huge part in its initial opening way back in 1867. Richard, 2nd Marquess of Westminster, decided to donate 20 acres of his estate to Chester’s citizens so that they could use it as a public park.

Thanks to a big revamp, the park is now likely to be just as amazing as it was for visitors over a decade ago. The Duke will be there on Monday the 28th of July to do the honours after a £2.3m grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) and the Big Lottery Fund (BIG), more than £1m from council coffers and £30,000 from WREN has helped to reinvigorate the flagging landmark.

“I am delighted to be given this opportunity to open a revitalised Grosvenor Park,” he said.

“It is a vital and much-loved part of Chester city centre, and I am grateful to the Heritage Lottery Fund, WREN and, of course, the council for providing the finds for such an important project.”

A café, public meeting rooms, a training and events pavilion, public toilets and a new natural play area are among some of the changes and additions made.

Cllr Stuart Parker, executive member for culture and economy, said: “The Marquess was many years ahead of his time in realising the value that parks would have for urban communities. Over the years his vision has given pleasure to millions of people.

“This programme of restoration will ensure that Grosvenor Park continues to occupy a special place in the life of Chester residents and a wonderful attraction for its visitors.”

No doubt the people of Chester will welcome the re-opening of one of their most iconic places and that it acts as a conduit for everything great in their city for the next 147 years!

“Grosvenor Park” by “www.flickr.com/photos/cezzie901”, license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/

Great news for employment prospects in Cheshire as it’s been announced that a car production factory will be looking to take on hundreds of new employees in the near future.

The Vauxhall plant in Ellesmere Port is aiming to employ 300 new people and the company owned by the US’ General Motors are looking to expand for the first time in over a decade. Considering it was close to closing in 2012, this comes as great news for the area.

The increase is due to increased demand in volume for the Astra: the Vauxhall model that is exclusively produced at the Ellesmere Port location. Along with the Luton van manufacturing arm, 550 new staff will be hired in total and the those currently employed are essentially safeguarded due to recent success.

The all new Astra will begin production towards the end of 2015 and the plant will eventually be able to produce almost 200,000 vehicles per year in a project which has been subject to £125 million in investment.

After the announcement which will see new employees hired at the start of 2015, the chairman of Vauxhall, Tim Tozer, said: “This is great news for Vauxhall and for British manufacturing.

“Both of our UK manufacturing plants have won long contracts with all-new product and as the business strengthens, we now need to take on more people to build these exciting new Vauxhalls.”

Speaking in 2012 when the factory was posed with real jeopardy of closing down, Vince Cable said: “I personally have been to General Motors in the USA twice to plead the case with the top men in the company, to persuade them this was a very good place to be. Here they have a flexible plant and a co-operative Labour force.”

It’s an effort that looks like it’s definitely paid off as the future has never looked clearer for the plant and if it continues to experience success, don’t be surprised to see more jobs created locally too.

“Vauxhall Astra” by www.flickr.com/photos/adspackman, license: creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0