Hanley Park: an oasis next to the Staffordshire University campus

by Walter Vundla (recent international student)

Hanley Park is one of Stoke-on-Trent’s heritage parks, it is close to the university and you can walk through it to the city centre. The park underwent a multi-million-pound restoration after a successful bid for £4.5 million from the National Lottery Heritage Fund and the National Lottery Community Fund in 2015 (visitstoke.co.uk, 2023). The restored facilities include public art sculptures, lake and fountains, boathouse, pavilion and floodlit sports zone for football tennis, basketball, and hockey.

Lots of all weather pitches in the Park for football, tennis, basketball, and cricket

The park is found in Shelton, Cleveland Road, Stoke-on-Trent, ST1 4DX. It is within a 10 minute walking distance from the Stoke-on-Trent train station. It is a 5-minute walk from the university campus on College and Leek Road. There are two car parks near the park for the public’s convenience, named Hanley Park Northern Car Park, The Parkway and Hanley Park Southern Car Park, Ridgway Road. Then there is Cannon PI car park which is about 13 minutes’ walk to the park.

Sports Zone

Hanley Park sports zone include artificial football pitch, four tennis courts, basket court and cricket wickets with nets. On every Saturday at 9am, Vitality parkrun holds a 5km run where anyone can register and take part.

Every Sunday morning, there is a group of people that meet up and play football. They play from 9am till around 12pm. Anyone is welcome to join as the group is very welcoming.

Community Hub

The community hub is open Monday to Thursday from 0830am to 1500pm. However, open day vary due to the weather. The community hub supplies activities for both children and adults.

Hanley Vitality Parkrun

It is a friendly, free and fun 5km community event that participants can walk, jog, run or volunteer to help to ensure that the event is a success every week. It is free to join in, however, one will have to register before attending the event. Once registered with parkrun, a scannable barcode will be issued so that you can get results after the run. You can run without the barcode, but you will not be able to get your finish time sent over to your email.

The entire event is organised by volunteers. If one wants to volunteer at one of the events, they can email: hanley@parkrun.com to help. All help is acceptable as there are marshals to guide and encourage everyone that takes part. All the volunteers are friendly and welcoming to everyone. The participants are also friendly and encouraging as well. It is easy to network and make friends as everyone is friendly and willing to have a conversation.