Cofton Park () is a

park A park is an area of natural, semi-natural or planted space set aside for human enjoyment and recreation or for the protection of wildlife or natural habitats. Urban parks are urban green space, green spaces set aside for recreation inside t ...

located in south

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands, within the wider West Midlands (region), West Midlands region, in England. It is the Lis ...

, England.

History

The 135 acres of land was acquired by

Birmingham City Council Birmingham City Council is the local authority for the city of Birmingham in the West Midlands, England. Birmingham has had an elected local authority since 1838, which has been reformed several times. Since 1974 the council has been a metropo ...

in 1933 for £10,640 (equivalent to £ in ), from the trustees for William Walter Hinde. In his will, he bequeathed the residue of his estate “for the purchase of land…to be kept for ever as an open space for the benefit of the people of Birmingham.” It is home to Birmingham Park's Cofton nursery which provides displays of bedding plants for parks throughout the city. The park is also used for civic occasions, the city centre floral display, Heart of England in Bloom and gardening shows such the

Chelsea Flower Show The RHS Chelsea Flower Show, formally known as the Great Spring Show,Phil Clayton, ''The Great Temple Show'' in ''The Garden'' 2008, p.452, The Royal Horticultural Society is a garden show held for five days in May by the Royal Horticultural So ...

and since 1996, BBC Gardeners’ World Live.

Pope Benedict XVI

During his visit to the United Kingdom,

Pope Benedict XVI Pope BenedictXVI (born Joseph Alois Ratzinger; 16 April 1927 – 31 December 2022) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 19 April 2005 until his resignation on 28 February 2013. Benedict's election as p ...

celebrated mass and presided over the

beatification Beatification (from Latin , "blessed" and , "to make") is a recognition accorded by the Catholic Church of a deceased person's entrance into Heaven and capacity to intercede on behalf of individuals who pray in their name. ''Beati'' is the p ...

Cardinal Cardinal or The Cardinal most commonly refers to * Cardinalidae, a family of North and South American birds **''Cardinalis'', genus of three species in the family Cardinalidae ***Northern cardinal, ''Cardinalis cardinalis'', the common cardinal of ...

John Henry Newman John Henry Newman (21 February 1801 – 11 August 1890) was an English Catholic theologian, academic, philosopher, historian, writer, and poet. He was previously an Anglican priest and after his conversion became a cardinal. He was an ...

, with a crowd of 51,626 people present at the 80,000-capacity Cofton Park near

Longbridge Longbridge is an area in the south-west of Birmingham, England, located near the border with Worcestershire, historically being within this place. Public transport Longbridge is described as a hub for public transport with a number of bus ...

, on Sunday 19 September 2010. Prior to the mass, music and prayer ceremonies were held at the park and were broadcast live on

BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. The station replaced the BBC Home Service on 30 September 1967 and broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes from the BBC's headquarters at Broadcasti ...

as part of their weekly programme ''Sunday Worship''. At the end of the mass, once Pope Benedict XVI had left the park to continue on to other engagements, students from Saint Augustine's High School in

Redditch Redditch is a town and non-metropolitan district with borough status in Worcestershire, England. It is located south of Birmingham, east of Bromsgrove, north-west of Alcester and north-east of Worcester. In 2021, the town had a population of ...

performed numerous soul-inspired songs for the crowd.

References

External links

Park's page
on Birmingham City Council site {{Birmingham parks Parks and open spaces in Birmingham, West Midlands Buildings and structures completed in 1933 Northfield Constituency 1933 establishments in England Parks established in the 1930s