Stoke-on-Trent plans to celebrate 100 years of city status
Stoke-on-Trent plans to celebrate 100 years of city status
Stoke-on-Trent residents are being invited to participate in a year-long celebration of the city’s 100 years of existence next year.
Stoke received the title from His Majesty King George V in 1925, and next year marks a century since that achievement.
The city council announced that it was seeking volunteers and companies to be a part of the initiative.
Planning is still in its early phases, according to leader Jane Ashworth, but “exciting announcements” should be made soon.
“Celebrate the rich heritage of the city and tell the story of how Stoke-on-Trent became a city” is the program’s stated goal.
On June 5, 1925, Stoke was granted city status for the first time by the king, who acknowledged the city’s significant contributions to the pottery industry.
Following last week’s disclosures on its financial difficulties, funding for the celebration program will not come from council funds.
The authority has stated that if it couldn’t reach an agreement with the government on financial support, it would have to eliminate “pretty much everything” that it wasn’t required by law to offer.
Ms Ashworth continued: “As we do not have spare money from the council’s budgets to pay for this celebration, we will allocate funding from sources such as the UK Shared Prosperity Fund (USPF) to get the ball rolling.”
Through a financing formula rather than a competition, the USPF offers £2.6 billion in fresh money for local investment by March 2025, with an allocation going to every region of the United Kingdom.
Winton Square was dubbed “the finest piece of Victorian axial planning in the country” by Sir Nikolaus Pevsner. The first thing that meets someone entering Stoke from the train station is this incredibly beautiful square.
On what had once been the Church of St. Peter ad Vincula’s forest rose an impressive complex of buildings. When the buildings were constructed in 1848, the area was known as Winton’s Wood after the church rector, John Winton. Afterward, the name was changed to Winton Square.
Edward Davies placed a bronze statue of Josiah Wedgwood in the center of the square in 1862; it is designated as Grade II. Built in 1849 and designed to resemble an Elizabethan manor house, the North Stafford Hotel is situated around the square. It is also Grade II listed. Senior North Staffs Railway employees reside in the railway homes built on either side of the hotel.
As of right present, the entire region is a protected area.
