Dr Sykes' Garden - Ashurst, Formby

The first two images below have both been taken in the same place, roughly from the same position .... the first shows Dr Sykes' and his family in 1936 when the space was the back garden at Ashurst on Duke Street, Formby.  The second shot (78 years later) shows the same space as it now is at the back of the public library on Duke Street, Formby. (Note the same coping stones on top of the wall)

The last shot shows one of the surviving pear trees from Dr Sykes orchard.

Dr Sykes' purchased the land opposite his house (Ashurst) on Duke Street in the late 1930's when it was being used as a farm.  The plan was to develop the area into a new housing estate.  After the successful purchase of the land, he gifted it to the local council with the sole instruction that it should never be built upon.  It is still a public park to this day.

                                           Dr Sykes' and family - 1936

                                          Back of Formby Public Library - 2014

                                                     Dr Sykes' Pear Tree - 2014