A POPULAR Victorian park in a North-East town has been awarded thousands to build community engagement and is looking for ideas from local people about how to spend it.

The National Lottery Heritage Fund has awarded £99,615 to the Darlington South Park Foundation to launch new projects in the town’s historic park and to develop existing ones.

The Foundation is holding a short workshop at the South Park Education Centre on Saturday, June 4, to set out details of the grant and invite local people to contribute ideas about how it can be spent.

Hilary Bevan, chair of Darlington South Park Foundation, “We are extremely grateful to have received this support, thanks to The National Lottery players.

“We’ve spoken to so many people who have wonderful memories of the park, it is a privilege to be involved in helping to create memories for future generations.

“South Park really is The People’s Park and we’d like to have as many people from the community as possible involved in sharing ideas and helping shape our future plans.”

The workshop will focus on new activities for the park while also exploring opportunities to expand existing ones.

Discussions will begin at 10am on June 4 and is expected to last two hours. For more information, contact southparkfoundation@gmail.com.