Best of Hyde Daily Photo 2012

The time has come to vote for the best of Hyde DP 2012.

View the twelve contenders at Best of Hyde 2012 and vote for your favourite three photographs.

Voting closes 12 noon GMT, 28th December 2012.

The Abstainer's Fountain

This fountain was presented to the Corporation by the Total Abstainers of the Borough in 1888. It originally stood on the corner of Market Place and Market Street. Its remains now stand in Hyde Park near the modern children's play area.

See it in its original position on Old Hyde.

The CDPB theme today is "Fountains": Click here to view thumbnails for all participants.

Side entrance to Hyde Park

This is the side entrance to Hyde Park from Park Road opposite Park Drive. This may have been the original entrance to Newton Lodge. The Lodge was the home of the Ashton family who gave the park to the people of Hyde in 1902.

A coloured version of this photograph can be seen on Geograph.

ABC WednesdayW is for Wood Sculpture

I showed you this wood sculpture in Hyde Park back in March when it was still an enigma.

The sculpture of a squirrel with a nut was created from a Turkey Oak by Preston-based artist Thompson Dagnall.

The tree was diseased and had to be felled. Rather than remove the tree completely it was felled to a safe height so that it could be sculpted.

Further W posts can be found on ABC Wednesday.

Hyde Park Café

The Bayley Hall in Hyde Park was converted last year into a café run by Tameside Disability Living Services and is a roaring success for both customers and staff.

You can read all about it on this Tameside MBC webpage.

Late Autumn Look at the Bandstand

A late autumn look at the bandstand in Hyde Park.

It is a Grade II listed building and you can see the details of its listing on Old Hyde.

Late Autumn in Hyde Park

Although some of the UK has been buried in snow for a week, here we have had just a light sprinkling until this morning. Today's photograph was taken about a week ago in Hyde Park when it was still decidedly Autumn.

For a cycle ride through the park check out the video on Hyde DP Xtra.

Tranquility Garden

The Garden of Tranquility lies in Hyde Park. It is a memorial for those patients who suffered at the hands of Harold Shipman.

The garden includes a granite trickle fountain, designed by Mel Chantry and is surrounded by herbs reclaimed from the old Newton Lodge which once sat on the site.

I last showed you this in March 2007. It seems Spring arrived earlier that year.

An Enigma in Wood

I was in Hyde Park again recently and came across this tree.

I didn't know anything about until I discovered a note on the TMBC Facebook page which informs

Mr Thompson Dagnall, a Preston-based artist, is creating a wood sculpture of a squirrel with a nut in Hyde Park.

The sculpture is being created from a Turkey Oak outside Bayley Hall in the park. The tree was diseased and had to be felled. Rather than remove the tree completely it was felled to a safe height so that it could be sculpted.

Lodge Lane Entrance to Hyde Park

This is the Lodge Lane entrance to Hyde Park at the opposite end to the Park Road entrance.

It is #1 in the bottom left hand corner of the Map of Hyde Park which has North at the bottom and South at the top.

Pedestrians and vehicles are neatly seperated here by a low wooden fence.

To the left of the metal fence is the railway line to Glossop.

Newton Lodge Columns

The four pillars which form the basis for this seating area in Hyde Park are the only remains of Newton Lodge. The Lodge was the home of the Ashton family who gave the park to the people of Hyde in 1902. When the park was refurbished in 2000 the pillars and the two benches were used to provide a setting for the memorial stone "Lest We Forget" which had previously lain in one of the gardens.

A closer view of the memorial stone can be seen on Hyde DP Xtra.

A closer view of one of the benches can be seen on Ackworth born, gone West.

The Wooded Dell in Hyde Park

Last week I showed you Hyde Park Bridge and on Hyde DP Xtra, upstream of the bridge.

This is a little bit further upstream and I've converted it into a pencil drawing. The original photograph can be seen on Geograph.

You can see a closer view of the end of this section on Hyde DP Xtra.

Hyde Park Bridge

The South-East corner of Hyde Park consists of a wild wooded area with a brook flowing through it. It is crossed by this moss-covered bridge.

The area downstream of the bridge can be seen on my photoblog sithenah.

The area upstream of the bridge can be seen on Hyde DP Xtra.

Bandstand Hyde Park

Tom of Wiggers World has today supplied us with the following photo and accompanying text from Hyde:

Over the last few years more than £2m has been spent bringing Hyde Park into the 21st century, Hyde Park dates back to the beginning of the 19th century. It was built by a local mill owning Ashton family, who offered the estate to Hyde Corporation in 1897.

Thank you, Tom!

RuneE - temporary caretaker.

Column Art

Some time ago I showed a photograph of the Bandstand in Hyde Park.

Here now is a closer look at the artwork around the columns.

Answer to October Quiz

For once, I didn't fool too many of you with my October quiz - several people correctly guessed it was one of the bowling greens in Hyde Park.

Some had obviously viewed the Map of Hyde Park and knew there were winter and summer greens.

This is one of the two winter greens and behind is the new pavilion which replaces the one damaged by fire in 2007.

Hope from Knoxville, Wayne from Vancouver and Dave in the Outhouse Capital of Canada, will all get a little prize for being so right.

Ashtonian's comment about the last club in Hyde being on Bowling Green Street surprised me. I had to look it up on my A-Z to find out where it was. As it is quite a walk from the nearest bus stop it may be some time before I check it out.

Hyde Park Bandstand Again

Two weeks ago I welcomed you to Hyde Park and last week showed you a map.

In the middle of the park is the bandstand. I've posted pictures of it here before

• Bandstand 1999
• Looking down on the bandstand
• Looking up at the bandstand

Today's view is more straight face on.

A Map of Hyde Park

This map of Hyde Park is on the notice boards at the entrances to the park.

This is of course Hyde Park in Hyde and not its more famous namesake almost 200 miles away in London.

There is something cartographically unusual or unconventional about this map. I wonder if someone can guess what it is?

OK, I won't keep you waiting. It is simply that South is at the top of the map and North at the bottom.

Welcome to Hyde Park

There are three entrances to Hyde Park. The one nearest to town is off .... Park Road ... now who would have thought that?

Bandstand 1999

A few months ago I showed a picture looking down on the bandstand in Hyde Park. Later I showed another picture looking up at the bandstand.

This picture was taken in August 1999 by Frank Bennett ARPS and is reposted here with his permission. It first appeared on the Images of England website, run by English Heritage. The site has lots of photographs and details of listed buildings.

I shall be using more of Frank's photographs over the coming months.