Stoke Park
Encyclopedia
Stoke Park is a large park situated close to the town centre of Guildford
Guildford
Guildford is the county town of Surrey. England, as well as the seat for the borough of Guildford and the administrative headquarters of the South East England region...
, Surrey
Surrey
Surrey is a county in the South East of England and is one of the Home Counties. The county borders Greater London, Kent, East Sussex, West Sussex, Hampshire and Berkshire. The historic county town is Guildford. Surrey County Council sits at Kingston upon Thames, although this has been part of...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
. Bought by the local council from Lord Onslow in 1925 to prevent future building work and "remain for all time a lung of the town", Stoke Park is the site of the annual music festival GuilFest
GuilFest
GuilFest, formerly the Guildford Festival of Folk and Blues is a music festival held in Stoke Park, Guildford, England each July. The festival, like the larger Glastonbury Festival, features a range of genres including rock, folk, blues, and in recent years pop...
, and was home for many years to the Old Guilfordians RFC before their merger with Guildford and Godalming RFC to form Guildford Rugby Club
Guildford Rugby Club
Guildford Rugby Club is a Rugby Union team that was formed in 2003 following the merger of the adult sections of Old Guildfordians RFC and Guildford & Godalming RFC. The club is based at Broadwater, which is close to Farncombe between the Surrey towns of Guildford and Godalming.The club's 1st XV...
in 2003. Following this, the junior rugby section of the club stayed at Stoke Park under the name of Guildfordians Rugby. They were joined in 2002, by disaffected Old Guildfordians, who had gone to Guildford and Godalming, thus forming Stoke Park Bisons RFC. At the beginning of the 2008/09 Season the RFU allowed the club to become named Guildfordian Bisons RFC, thus forming a link between both the senior a nd junior sides. Stoke Park contains climbing frames, slides, a paddling pool, skateboarding ramps and large other expanses of grass. It is opposite the Guildford Spectrum
Guildford Spectrum
Guildford Spectrum is a leisure complex in Guildford, Surrey, England. Owned by Guildford Borough Council, it was opened on 28 February 1993 at a cost of £28 million. It is the home of ice hockey team the Guildford Flames, and other sports clubs...
leisure complex, which has many sports facilities, including, a running track, a swimming pool, bowling alleys and ice rink, the Guildford Spectrum is home to the Guildford Flames
Guildford Flames
The Guildford Flames are an ice hockey team based in Guildford, Surrey and their home ice is the Guildford Spectrum.Founded in October 1992, the team played for many years in the British National League...
ice hockey
Ice hockey
Ice hockey, often referred to as hockey, is a team sport played on ice, in which skaters use wooden or composite sticks to shoot a hard rubber puck into their opponent's net. The game is played between two teams of six players each. Five members of each team skate up and down the ice trying to take...
team.
Stoke Park is also home to the annual Surrey County Show held during the second bank holiday weekend in May and a number of other events throughout the year such as the Race for Life
Race for Life
Race for Life is a series of fundraising events organised by the British charity, Cancer Research UK. They involve running, jogging or walking a 5-kilometre course and raising sponsorship for doing so. The money raised is donated to the charity to fund cancer research and campaigns...
.
Stoke Park holds the annual Guildford Lions Firework Fiesta on November 5 every year. The event includes many fairground attractions and food stands, and is sponsored by local radio station 96.4 The Eagle
96.4 The Eagle
96.4 Eagle Radio is an Independent Local Radio station in the Surrey and North Hampshire area of England owned by the UKRD Group. The radio station, based in Guildford, Surrey, was the brainchild of Mike Powell, previously the Managing Director of Surrey and Hampshire's County Sound Radio.Peter...
. The event starts with a torch lit procession from Guildford High Street and ends with a 20 minute firework finale.