Whitehead Gardens, Tottington

09.06.2026

Today, partners, volunteers, schools, community groups and local residents came together to celebrate the successful completion of the Whitehead Gardens Improvement Project!

Celebrations began with a rededication service at St Anne’s Church, where the gardens were re-blessed and their role as a peaceful and respectful place of remembrance was reaffirmed. Local school pupils took part in the service, sharing reflections on their involvement in the project and what they had learned along the way. Speeches from project partners and community representatives highlighted the pride, commitment and community spirit that have helped make the project such a success.

Following the service, the Mayor of Bury led a commemorative tree planting and guests enjoyed a tour of the restored gardens and the improvements delivered throughout the project.

A particular highlight of the day was a wonderful performance by pupils from Tottington Primary School on the newly rebuilt stage.

The celebration was a fitting way to mark the completion of a project that has brought people together, strengthened community connections and protected an important piece of heritage for future generations.

The Whitehead Gardens Improvement Project has only been possible thanks to the generous support and guidance of both Bury Council, and the National Lottery Heritage Fund.

Thank you to everyone who has supported the project, volunteered their time, shared their expertise, and helped make both the project and today’s celebration such a memorable occasion 🌳☀️🌳

01.06.2026

Bird and bat boxes have now been installed at Whitehead Gardens, created by children from Tottington High School and beautifully decorated by pupils from Tottington Primary School. The boxes will provide safe nesting and roosting spaces for local wildlife, helping to encourage birds and bats to thrive within the gardens. This simple but important addition supports biodiversity, and brings the site to life with nature, while also giving young people a hands-on role in caring for their community green space. Huge thanks to all of the children for all their amazing work!

22/05/2026

The improvements at Whitehead Gardens are really starting to take shape, with the new pathways looking fantastic and already making the site more accessible for everyone to enjoy. Works are progressing well across the gardens, and with the project now nearing completion, it’s exciting to see the transformation coming together so brilliantly! ☀️🌳🌼

18.05.2026

Today we were delighted to be joined on site by a fantastic group of children from Tottington High School, who helped plant up some of the new planting beds within the gardens. The students worked really hard, showed great enthusiasm and did a brilliant job helping bring more colour and biodiversity into the space.

A huge thank you to everyone involved — we really appreciate all your hard work and support! It’ll be lovely for the students to come back and see the difference their hard work has made as the gardens begin to bloom 🌳🌼🌷

 

14.05.2026

The path improvement works at Whitehead Garden are progressing really well and the garden is already looking fantastic 🌳

A huge thank you to The National Lottery Heritage Fund  for supporting these improvements, which will make it much easier and more enjoyable for everyone to walk around and explore the garden. We’re really looking forward to seeing the finished results and welcoming more people to enjoy the space 🌳

 

15.04.2026

Exciting progress is continuing at Whitehead Gardens, with improvement works well underway. Upgrades to the stage area are really taking shape, the new wall looks amazing, and the footpath access improvements are already making the gardens a more welcoming and accessible space for everyone  ☀️🌳☀️

We’re so grateful to The National Lottery Heritage Fund for their support in helping bring these improvements to life!

18.03.2026

Contractors continue to make strong progress at Whitehead Gardens in Tottington. Work on rebuilding the stage area is well underway and already taking shape nicely, while tree works are also progressing well 🌳☀️🌳

16.03.2026

A huge thank you to the children at Tottington Primary School for painting 30 wonderful bird and bat boxes!  These boxes, made by students from Tottington High School and decorated by the primary school children, will soon be installed in Whitehead Gardens.

By providing safe nesting and roosting spaces, these boxes will support local wildlife, helping birds and bats thrive in the gardens and contributing to a healthier, more biodiverse environment.

A huge THANK YOU to both classes for their great work! 🐦🦇🌳

10.03.2026

Thank you to everyone who joined the Heritage Walk & Talk event last week!

The session, led by an amazing team of Greenmount Community Walk Leaders, was a lovely way to find out more about Whitehead Gardens as well as other local historical places including Whipney House, Hollymount, the ruins of Ferns Mill, the Dungeon, St. Anne’s graveyard, Stormerhill Mill, and Tottington Mill ruins. You can read more about the walk here: Three Centuries Heritage Trail Walk

Thanks again to everyone who helped organise the session, and to everyone who joined and made it a really great day☀️🌳. Thanks also to The National Lottery Heritage Fund and all the lottery players who support this project, and so many others.🌳☀️🌳

03.03.2026

Works on site at Whitehead Gardens are progressing well. The rain has stopped, and the last couple of dry days have been warmly welcomed!

Thank you to everyone for their patience while the improvement works take place, and thanks to the team at The National Lottery Heritage Fund who are supporting this project.🌳☀️🌳

26.02.2026

Reminder… next Monday 2nd March, a team of Greenmount Community Walk Leaders will be hosting a guided heritage walk for the Whitehead Gardens project.  During the Three Centuries Local Heritage Trail to Tottington and the Whitehead Gardens walk, the team will share details about the area – from both before and after the bombing, and an information leaflet will also be available on the day.

The walk distance will be approx. 4.5 miles, and other historical places to see / find out more about along the way include Whipney House, Hollymount, the ruins of Ferns Mill, the Dungeon, St. Anne’s graveyard, Stormerhill Mill, and Tottington Mill ruins.

The walk is free and everyone is welcome, but no dogs please. You are advised to wear appropriate clothing and hiking boots. The walk will go ahead if it’s raining, but if there is any extreme weather expected then it will be rescheduled. The walk is moderate to challenging with some stiles, steps and inclines.

The meeting point is Greenmount Old School, BL8 4DS. The group will leave at 8.40am and expect to be back by approx. 12.30pm.

23.02.2026

Improvement works are continuing at Whitehead Gardens, but the terrible weather is impacting the team at the moment. They’ll keep working as safely and quickly as they can, and we’ll let you know when everything has been completed. In the meantime, stay dry… if you can! ☔☔☔

17.02.2026

On Monday 2nd March, a team of Greenmount Community Walk Leaders will be hosting a guided heritage walk for the Whitehead Gardens project.  During the Three Centuries Local Heritage Trail to Tottington and the Whitehead Gardens walk, the team will share details about the area – from both before and after the bombing, and an information leaflet will also be available on the day.

The walk distance will be approx. 4.5 miles, and other historical places to see / find out more about along the way include Whipney House, Hollymount, the ruins of Ferns Mill, the Dungeon, St. Anne’s graveyard, Stormerhill Mill, and Tottington Mill ruins.

The walk is free and everyone is welcome, but no dogs please. You are advised to wear appropriate clothing and hiking boots. The walk will go ahead if it’s raining, but if there is any extreme weather expected then it will be rescheduled. The walk is moderate to challenging with some stiles, steps and inclines.

The meeting point is Greenmount Old School, BL8 4DS. The group will leave at 8.40am and expect to be back by approx. 12.30pm.

This is another wonderful activity made possible by The National Lottery Heritage Fund who have supported this project.

Hope to see you there! 🥾🌳☀️

04.02.2026

Last week, it was the turn of students from Tottington High School to visit The Fusiliers Museum in Bury. Their session focussed on how the Second World War impacted the lives of people locally. Students were able to learn about the past using museum resources including census materials, real and replica objects, images relating to WW2 and maps of Tottington.

A huge thank you to all of the students for taking part, to the amazing staff at the museum, and to our funders at The National Lottery Heritage Fund . The NLHF have funded all of the educational trips taking place as part of this project, and we’re incredibly lucky to have their support! 🌳

 

26.01.2026

Tree works and site improvement works will begin in Whitehead Gardens w/c 2nd February. The focus of the works is trees that are either dead, diseased, dying or dangerous. The works are expected to last until mid April 2026, weather permitting.

Please be aware that some parts of the site may closed during this time, and construction vehicles may need to access the gardens too – so please do take care if you visit.

We apologies for any inconvenience caused – but we do hope that you will enjoy visiting when everything has been completed! 🌳🌳🌳

If you have any questions about the works, please email [email protected]

23.01.2026

Last week, students from Tottington High School were busy making 20 new bird and bat boxes for Whitehead Gardens. The children have done brilliantly – they’ve taken care and time over the boxes, and they’re fantastic.

The boxes have now been delivered to Tottington Primary School, where the children will be decorating them. Once that’s done, they’ll be installed and they’ll genuinely make a real difference in bringing the gardens to life by providing safe places for bats and birds to nest, roost, and shelter. A seemingly small thing, but something that has big impact for wildlife. Thank you again to both Tottington High School, and Tottington Primary School! 🐦🦇🌳

15.01.2026

This week, children from Tottington High School spent the day at the Imperial War Museum North. As well as taking a look around the iconic museum, they also attended the We Were There session. The session gave the students a unique chance to meet veterans and eyewitnesses of conflict from the Second World War to today, hearing their personal stories, asking questions and connecting through conversations.

The session is designed to help students understand more about the consequences of war, and the impact of war and conflict on people’s lives, and the variety of these experiences.

It was a wonderful day, filled with questions. Huge thanks to the students and school for joining the session, and to everyone at IWMN for their help and guidance during the visit.

Thanks too to the amazing team at The National Lottery Heritage Fund for supporting us!

 

11.01.2026

A sombre picture, shared with us by Tottington District Civic Society, of the aftermath of Christmas Eve, 1944. The picture shows the destruction outside of St. Anne’s Church on Chapel Street. For those that aren’t aware, the church is directly opposite the Whitehead Gardens site.

15.12.2025

After seeing such excellent artwork from the children from Tottington Primary School, we also came across this picture in the information shared with us by the team at Tottington District Civic Society. It’s a photograph of a V1 ‘Doodlebug’ bomb – the same bomb that hit Tottington on Christmas Eve, 1944. It is reported that 45 of these bombs were launched that night, with 31 reaching the UK and 15 landing in Greater Manchester.

11.12.2025

Since artist Rick Goodwin from Stump Art visited Tottington Primary School, the children have been working on designs for a new sculpture for Whitehead Gardens. Here’s a peek at some of the ideas they have come up with so far! 🌳

 

08.12.2025

Artist Cath Ford joined pupils in years 5&6 to run two special art workshops focussed on the themes of Hope and Peace. During the first workshop, Cath showed the class how she works in layers as an illustrator using a base of layer colour with a final layer of black drawing, and then the students created a series of green handmade collage papers. Pupils also saw war time pieces from Picture Post, and discussed different symbols of hope and traditions. At the end of the session, the children cut some of their collage paper into a triangle / tree shape and created their own Christmas card symbolising hope.

In the second workshop, the class discussed how, during the war, print would have been in black and white and how artists and designers had to use that limited palette effectively. The pupils experimented with mono-printing to create drawings of creatures found in and around Whitehead Gardens. After finishing their wildlife drawings, each student created their own mono-print of the word Peace with their individually designed decorative borders.

Both sessions were made possible with funding from  The National Lottery Heritage Fund who are supporting the Whitehead project.

Here’s a look at some of the designs…. 🐦🌳☀️

 

 

 

04.12.2025

Another old picture from Tottington District Civic Society showing Whitehead Gardens looking fantastic 🌳

28.11.2025

Last week, children from Tottington Primary School visited the brilliant Fusiliers Museum in Bury. While they were there, the groups took part in a session which gave them an insight into life in the Home Guard during the Second World War through objects and entertaining role-play. Pupils also got the chance to experience rifle drills, learn why men joined the Home Guard and what jobs they had to do.

During the visit they were also given the opportunity to participate in a WW2 object handling session, an interactive class where Dad becomes a soldier, Mum volunteers as an ARP Warden and the children are evacuated. The session was designed to give them an understanding of how the Second World War affected the whole family.

The museum staff were fantastic! The children had a great time – and they learned so much!

This was all made possible with funding from The National Lottery Heritage Fund – thank you NLHF team!

 

27.11.2025

Another wood carving demonstration…this time at Tottington High School. Today, artist Rick Goodwin from Stump Art carved another beautiful Hare, and kindly gifted it to the school. As with the primary visit, the children who attended the demonstration are now busy working on designs for a new Whitehead Gardens sculpture. Design ideas to be shared, as soon as we have them 🌳

20.11.2025

The amazing artist Rick Goodwin from Stump Art visited Tottington Primary School this week to show the children how an expert carver creates new sculptures. The children are now working on ideas and designs for a new sculpture for Whitehead Gardens. The winning design will be carved by Rick and installed next year. We can’t wait to see what the group come up with!

 

10.11. 2025

A local resident recently shared some old newspaper articles and this fabulous picture. It shows the cobblestones of Chapel Street, Tottington, and Whitehead Gardens looking so lovely! 🌳

31.10.2025

Happy Halloween! The bats found Whitehead Gardens too spooky to swoop around last night, but we still learned lots about the bat species that live here. Thanks to everyone who came along 🦇🎃🦇

23.10.2025

The bat walk is now FULLY BOOKED! Thank you to everyone who emailed, and sorry we couldn’t fit you all in this time.

We’re thrilled that this project is so popular with everyone. We’re very lucky to have funding from The National Lottery Heritage Fund – and all the lottery players, to make events like this happen.

We’ll keep you all updated about future community activities here – so do keep checking back for details!

14.10.2025

There are still some places left on the expert led bat walk that will take place at Whitehead Gardens on Wednesday, 29th October from 6pm till 7.30pm. You can learn about, and hopefully hear and see a few of the local bat species that call the gardens home 🦇

Everyone is welcome – email Martin Proffitt to book 🦇 [email protected]

09.10.2025

There’s an amazing opportunity to attend an expert led bat walk at Whitehead Gardens on Wednesday, 29th October from 6pm till 7.30pm. You can learn about, and hopefully hear (and see) a few of the local bat species that call the gardens home 🦇

Everyone is welcome – but places are limited, and you do need to book! You can do this by emailing Martin Proffitt [email protected]

 

22.04.2025

We’re looking for an Ecologist and Sculpture Artist to work with us on the Whitehead Gardens project!

You can find all the information you need here:

Whitehead Gardens Ecology Brief April 2025

Whitehead Gardens Sculpture Artist Brief April 2025

If you have any questions, please email Martin Proffitt

28.02.2025

Yesterday, children from Tottington Primary School and Tottington High School joined us on site to watch a tree felling demonstration. The arborists explained exactly what their role was within the garden, what tools are used to the job, discussed what kinds of places and spaces their team work in, and also chatted about the skills, interests and qualifications needed to do the job.

During the demonstration, the students were shown how they can estimate the age of a tree, as well as how to spot if a tree is dying or unhealthy. The arborists were eager to share that, even though we all love trees (and we’ll be planting more of them), sometimes it’s necessary to responsibly fell and thin out existing trees in parks and woodlands to improve the overall health of the space.

At Whitehead Gardens, some of the trees are damaged or diseased. They needed to be removed to prevent the disease spreading to other healthy trees, and also because the brittle branches and trees are at risk of falling – so it’s important that the site is made safe. The team also explained thinning out the trees can help create space and light for other trees and plants to grow better, as well as allowing more light reach the floor, which should increase the diversity of plants and encourage more wildlife in the gardens.

The students were also happy to learn that, when work like this happens, all of the wood isn’t wasted… some of the timber can be reused and turned into other things like fence posts, bird boxes and fuel. Even the deadwood can help to provide vital habitat for a range of creatures too!

It was a great afternoon, and a great way to start the community and school project activities which have been generously funded by The National Lottery Heritage Fund Thank you to everyone who came along 🌳🐞🪲🐛

 

20.02.2024

Contractors are due to start tree works in Whitehead Gardens next week! They will remove dead, diseased, and dying trees from across the gardens. Log piles will be created from the timber and standing trunks left as habitats for wildlife. The work will take place throughout the week, weather permitting.

Please note that parts of the site will be temporarily closed to the public for a few hours at a time for safety reasons. 🌳

18.12.2024

It’s going to be an exciting time at Whitehead Gardens in 2025 as the improvement project begins.

A reminder that plans for the site include making improvement to access and pathways, installing new seating areas, tree works, wildflower planting, wall repairs and improving drainage. A big part of the project involves also involves bringing the staged area within the gardens back into community use. Children from Tottington High School, Tottington Primary School and other local schools and groups will also be given the opportunity to get involved in an historical research project and several other outdoor activities on the site too.

Thanks to everyone who has supported the team so far.

We’ll update you again when we have start dates for the works!

23.10.2024

Great news – funding for the Whitehead Gardens improvements has now been secured! The project is being supported by Bury Council, and the amazing team at The National Lottery Heritage Fund who support amazing projects like this one all over the country.

The work on site will begin in 2025, and when we have those exact dates and details, we’ll let you know. Thank you to everyone who has continued to support the Whitehead Gardens Steering Committee during the consultation, planning, and fundraising stages 🙂

20.01.2024

Finally, we now have the planning approval that we have been waiting for!

The next step for the project is for us to find funders that we can work with. Looking for funding can take some time. We’ll be working on this over the coming months, and we’ll more share details with you when we can 🙂

14.08.2023

WHITEHEAD GARDENS TOTTINGTON – APPEAL

As part of the project to improve Whitehead Gardens, the Rotary Club of Tottington and Bury West are trying to trace the relatives of those who lost their lives during the V1 missile attack on Christmas Eve 1944.

The club are eager to share the plans for remodelling the stage area and re-installing the memorial plaque with the relatives, and get their views.

If you had a relative who died in the attack in 1944, and you would be happy to be involved, please email [email protected] by 15th September and let us know.

06.07.2023

Thanks to everyone for their patience as we move forward with the Whitehead Gardens project. We’ve been working to get planning approval, and the process has been taking longer than anticipated. The details are with the planning team, and as soon as we get the all clear from them, we can move on and begin the fundraising process. We’ll update you all again when we have more news – so do keep checking back for details 🙂

20.11.2021

A huge thank you to everyone who selected this project as your local cause to support. Thanks to you, and the wonderful team at Co-op, we have been awarded £3,041 towards the Whitehead Gardens improvements. You can read more about the project, and the support from the Co-op team here Coop Newsletter Nov 21

The fundraising work continues and we’ll update you again in the new year!

04.10.2021

The masterplan for the Whitehead Gardens project are now up around the site, so please do take a look. Now that we have a plan, we can begin thinking about fundraising to move the project forward.

15.09.2021

Great to see details of the Whitehead Gardens project being shared by the One Community Bury group:

https://www.onecommunitybury.co.uk/whitehead-gardens-tottington-restoration-update

It’s a great resource for people who want to know more about interesting projects happening in Bury!

 

29.07.2021

Like many teams, we’ve had a big gap in progress due to the Covid pandemic – but we’re now in a position to share a proposal for improving Whitehead Gardens. The plan was created following consultation work carried out last year. Some key aims of the plan involve improving access into the site, updating the drainage, opening up some of the darker areas of the gardens, brightening up some areas with colourful planting and bringing the ‘stage’ area back into use. As many of you know, the site is full of history and, as part of the project, we will work with local school children to research the local history and share some of the findings with the wider Tottington community. We have already received a lot of positive feedback about the changes including support from the Whitehead family, Tottington Primary School and Tottington and Bury West Rotary Club.

The next steps are to try and find the funding to carry out this work. Wish us luck – we will keep you up to date when we can.

Take a look at the plan below – you can click on the image to enlarge it if you need to. Thank you all for your continued support.

 

25.03.2021

Just a reminder that Proffitts CiC / Whitehead Gardens Steering Commitee have been selected to take part in the Co-op Local Community Fund. The group are working hard to raise the funds needed to improve Whitehead Gardens with suggestions of bringing the staged area back in to community event use, The team have their own profile page on the Co-op fund site and is one of three causes in your community which Co-op Members can select to support between now and 23rd October 2021.

14.12.2020

Thanks to everyone who has signed up to become a Co-op Member already, and thanks to those who have selected the Whitehead Gardens project as their chosen cause! You can sign up online at coop.co.uk/membership or by downloading the Co-op app – so please do encourage your friends and family to sign up and support local projects too.

23.11.2020

We’re delighted to announce that Proffitts CiC / Whitehead Gardens Steering Commitee have been selected to take part in the Co-op Local Community Fund. The team have their own profile page on the Co-op fund site and is one of three causes in your community which Co-op Members can select to support between now and 23rd October 2021.

04.06.2020

Hi everyone. Sorry we have been a bit quiet recently. Slowly getting back into the swing of things now. We are hoping you will help by completing this survey  This survey will give us an insight into what local people would like to see with the site. Lots have people have mentioned improving the performance stage area so community events can take place and improving the paths alongside carrying out a history project involving local school children. What are your ideas? If you find it easier you can simply leave a comment at the bottom of this web page. All ideas will be fed into an overall design. Please share with anyone who lives in the area or would be interested in commenting.

28.02.2020

We are delighted to be supporting Whitehead Gardens Steering Committee in working towards improving of the popular gardens in Tottington, Bury.

Local residents have been pushing for improvements to the community facility with suggestions of bringing the staged area back in to community event use, and other ideas including involving local school children in a research / history project which can be shared in some form. As you may know, Whitehead Gardens contains a memorial to seven people who lost their lives on Christmas Eve, 1944 in an enemy air raid. The garden has a large stone tablet set into the wall on which the names of the dead and the circumstances of the raid are recorded.

The group have started the consultation process and you can give comment by simply leaving a comment below or clicking on the link below. Paper copies are also available – please let us know if you need one.

https://www.onecommunitybury.co.uk/whitehead-gardens-tottington-restoration-project/brainstormers/Whitehead-gardens/