Park Hall
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Park Hall is a residential area within, but near to the southern edge of, Walsall, England. Officially, it comes under the Paddock area of the town, however it is recognised as a separate estate by most residents. It is considered that the housing area near to the local Park Hall Primary and Infant schools and the Gillity Village shops are classed as Park Hall. The estate is named after the Park Hall, built in 1863, which was the home of Sir William Pearman Smith, a solicitor and Walsall's mayor during 1899–1902. The hall was demolished in the 1950s.[1]
Park Hall primary school was opened on the site of the hall in 1970. It outgrew its original building, so a junior school and community center was built next door, opening in 1974. Park Hall infant and junior school is mixed and of non-denominational religion. The school took grant maintained status in January 1994. The infant school teaches over 300 pupils with student’s standards in national tests being in the highest five percent of the country upon leaving. [2] Park Hall Junior School has over 400 pupils and it is the 9th ranked junior school out of 80 in the Walsall region in the aggregate score across the three test subjects of English, maths and science.[3]
Park Hall is an affluent area in comparison to other Walsall estates, with most houses being semi-detached or detached. It is close to the other Walsall suburbs of Chuckery, The Delves and is separated to Streetly by countryside and by the local landmark of Barr Beacon. It falls under the Walsall South parliamentary constituency, with the local Member of Parliament being Bruce George of the Labour Party.
Like other residential areas of England, Park Hall contains several roads named after towns in the County of Cornwall. Such roads include: St. Ives Road, Newquay Road, Redruth Road, Truro Road, Falmouth Road, Liskeard Road, Launceston Road, Penryn Road, as well as a Cornwall Road. The most sought after road however is St Austell Road, situated in the background of the pictoresque Narwain Farms this road has attracted attention from local football superstars, Dean Keates and the influential Ian Roper, however they are just a few of the names on the waiting list for the road.
The Gility Village shops is the central point of Park Hall containing a mixture of food outlets and other shops (1 chip shop, 2 Indian restaurants, 1 Cantonese restaurant, 1 pizza shop, a hardware store, a chemists, a supermarket, a dry cleaners, an off-licence, and a bakery). Micheal Read, a local resident has attempted many times to get a `Subway` sandwich firm to have a shop in the Gillity Village, however these attempts have always been foiled. His petitions have never worked, due to the lack of interest, although Debra `Afro` Read has always been a loyal supporter, as she could treat herself after her weekly perm at Mark Anthony's. Aaron Narwain, another local resident has made good use of the fields which surround Park Hall, making it the beautiful place it is. He has been farming for many years now, and has made a business of it with his family name appearing on farms around the world, especially Asia. However, hooligans such as the notorious `Orchard Hills` posse led by Brett `Wireless Dial Up` have vandalised Narwain Farms many times, in what people have been led to believe are racially motivated crimes. To show their threat, they have spray painted a number of `Star of David's` in ironic places, the most notable being on the fence on St Ives Road. The local police force have never caught up with these people, but have caught Jamie Palmer a number of times, but he has proven to be a poor link to the black sheep of the Park Hall estate.
[edit] References
- ^ Walsall: The growth of the town. British History Online.
- ^ Section 9/10 Inspection. Ofsted (2004-09-27).
- ^ League tables, Primary schools, Walsall. BBC article (2004-12-02).
