A grand ceremony was organised to herald its opening on June 15, 1935, to be attended by guest of honour Lucas Rumsey of Leicestershire County Council, but the weather was so bad the gathering of people had to adjourn to a hall at nearby Welland Park High School.

Market Harborough Urban District Council’s chairman H H Pickering said at the time: “We knew the residents in this area would need a recreation ground.”

For a park that has been with us for nearly 73 years, it has unsurprisingly had its fair share of controversies.

In the mid-1950s the great debate was whether the park should be open to ‘games’ on Sundays. It made front page news in the Mail of 1955 and sparked furious back-and-forth letters.

Vandals caused outrage in April 1976 when flower beds in Welland Park were destroyed.

Ducks were shot and stolen from the park’s pond in the mid-1980s, sparking a backlash from angry animal-lovers.

Hundreds of people celebrated the park’s Diamond Jubilee in September 1995, with bands and dance groups entertaining the crowds.

Shockingly, on June 9, 1996, a 14-year-old schoolgirl was kidnapped and bundled into the back of a van in Welland Park in broad daylight. The terrified girl was later released in Little Bowden.

An amazing 8,000 people flocked to the park’s first-ever fun fair in October 1997.

The early 2000s saw debates about the effectiveness of ‘park rangers’ and whether a skatepark should be built.

In recent years the park has played host to colourful and ingenious floral displays as part of the town’s Harborough in Bloom bid.

In July last year Welland Park was officially named as one of the best parks in England and Wales after it was awarded Green Flag status by the Government and the Civic Trust.