Greenhead Park opened in September 1884 and has proved to be popular with the people of Huddersfield ever since. Only half a mile from Huddersfield town centre, the park is a world away from the hustle and bustle of the town. It is the perfect place to unwind, relax and enjoy the park's wonderful improvements which have taken place.

In 2009, with funding from Kirklees Council and the Heritage Lottery Fund, a multi-million pound refurbishment project began. This has enabled the restoration and regeneration of the buildings, landscape and infrastructure right across the park. This project was completed in 2011, and has breathed new life into Greenhead Park.

The project includes:

• Refreshment rooms
  The park's refreshment rooms pavilion has been fully refurbished including the popular café, public toilets and the addition of a classroom for schools and groups. It is open between 10 and 3pm in the winter, and 10 until 5 in the summer. For more details please call 01484 223176 or email greenheadparkcafe@live.co.uk
• Conservatory
  This building was added to the park in the late 1920's and has now been fully reglazed and joins on to a new two-storey building which provides a wonderful restaurant and event space for the park. This is open between 10 and 4 during the winter, and between 10 and 5 in the summer. It is also available for private hire in the evenings. For more details please call 01484 223456 or email dale.omelia@kirklees.gov.uk
• Lake
  The largest of the park's five lakes has been reconstructed together with the Italian fountain and makes a beautiful focus point for the Italian gardens.
• Bandstand
  This restored timber design with chinoiserie detail dates from the 1890s and will be a key feature for musical events.
• Railings
  Installation of railings around the 1 mile (1.7km) perimeter of the park have been reinstated along with replica park gates at the top and bottom of the park.
• Tree-Lined Avenue
  The avenue leading to the war memorial was originally lined with elm trees and small leaved lime trees have now been replanted.
• Footpaths
  Throughout the park path networks have been either rebuilt or resurfaced.
• Drainage
  A full scheme is now underneath the main events arena and problem hotspots have now been dealt with and improved around the park.

Additional improvements which have taken place include:

• A fantastic new play area, funded by Playbuilder and Kirklees Council.
• A full refurbishment of the sports courts, with new surfacing and fencing, providing 9 tennis courts and 2 multi-use games areas.

Work has started on the new bowls pavilion – developed in conjunction with the Friends of Greenhead Park and also Greenhead Park,s Veterans' Bowls Club, this building is now under construction, and is scheduled to take 4 months to complete.

Remedial work is underway on the sports courts to make them drain better after periods of heavy rain. This work is planned to take until the end of March, and then the surface will be painted during May. During this time access to the courts will be restricted.

A broken water mains in the centre of the park, close to the Temperance Drinking Fountain, is scheduled for repair soon.

The leaking gas main near the refreshment rooms has been repaired, and we are awaiting the return of National Grid to refill the hole.

Whilst the project was underway there was a great deal of interest and support including:

• new glass for the conservatory donated to us by Ken Woodcock at NGN Novaglaze who used to be based just down the road from the park.
• 10 clay pots and 2 commemorative plates made by Peter Fisher from clay which was removed from the park due to the excavation of the lake.
• Huddersfield Cine Club attended the park throughout the project to film the restoration works and they are going to make a commemorative film.

Kirklees Council is committed to making sure that its activities and developments are as sustainable as possible. As a result, the 2 main buildings in the park now meet the latest criteria for insulation, in the walls, roofs, and floors. In addition, both the refreshment rooms and the conservatory have all their space heating provided by ground source heat pumps (with around 1.5kms of underground tubing) and benefit from underfloor heating. These are far more economical to run than traditional systems. Due to the nature of the conservatory glasshouse, there was very little that could be done to make it more energy efficient, but even with these limitations, and the cold winter of 2011 the temperature in the glasshouse never dropped below 5°C.

Local suppliers were used where possible throughout the works.

The restaurant in the conservatory, which is run by Kirklees Council, is also committed to local suppliers, and sources many of its ingredients from the Huddersfield area.

There is great excitement about the future of the park. The park stayed open as much as possible throughout the project, and visitors have been very interested in the developments. Now that the park is complete people have been returning in their thousands to see how their park has changed.

The park is managed by the council's Parks and Open Spaces team and relies on help and assistance of many others to make it a success, including:

• Streetscene's Community Rangers
• Kirklees Catering
• West Yorkshire Police
• Huddersfield Society of Model Engineers
• Greenhead Park Veterans' Bowling Club
• Kirklees Building Services

The Friends of Greenhead Park was revitalised as part of the project, and they are working closely with the council to make sure that the popularity of the park continues to grow.

• Friends of Greenhead Park (external site)

2012 is the first year that the park will be fully open since the restoration, and it is already proving to be a very busy year! A number of very large events are already lined up to take part in the park, including Huddersfield Carnival, Pink Picnic, Concerts in the Park, St George's Day, and the return to the park of the Beach, in conjunction with the Huddersfield Giants. These larger events will also be bolstered by a whole host of regular events. Each Saturday morning at 9am there's parkrun, the steam train runs (weather permitting) on weekend afternoons, 2 sessions of Nordic walking on Friday afternoons and many more - for more details about any of these please contact robert.whittaker@kirklees.gov.uk.

• Park run (external site)
• Steam train (external site)

The park is open daily from 7am and closes at:

• January & February: 6pm
• March & April: 8pm
• May, June, July & August: 10pm
• September & October: 8pm
• November & December: 6pm