Sol Joel Park is a

public park An urban park or metropolitan park, also known as a municipal park (North America) or a public park, public open space, or municipal gardens ( UK), is a park in cities and other incorporated places that offer recreation and green space to res ...

Earley Earley is a town and civil parish in the Borough of Wokingham, Berkshire, England. Along with the neighbouring town of Woodley, the Office for National Statistics places Earley within the Reading/Wokingham Urban Area; for the purposes of local ...

, a town east of

Reading Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of Letter (alphabet), letters, symbols, etc., especially by Visual perception, sight or Somatosensory system, touch. For educators and researchers, reading is a multifaceted process invo ...

Berkshire Berkshire ( ; in the 17th century sometimes spelt phonetically as Barkeshire; abbreviated Berks.) is a historic county in South East England. One of the home counties, Berkshire was recognised by Queen Elizabeth II as the Royal County of Be ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

, on the Wokingham Road. It was given to the Corporation of Reading in 1927 by

Solomon Joel Solomon Barnato "Solly" Joel (23 May 1865 – 22 May 1931), born in London, England, moved to South Africa in the 1880s where he made his fortune in connection with diamonds, later becoming a financier with interests in mining, brewing and railw ...

. Its official opening was by the then

Duke of York Duke of York is a title of nobility in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. Since the 15th century, it has, when granted, usually been given to the second son of List of English monarchs, English (later List of British monarchs, British) monarchs. ...

, who subsequently became

King George VI George VI (Albert Frederick Arthur George; 14 December 1895 – 6 February 1952) was King of the United Kingdom and the Dominions of the British Commonwealth from 11 December 1936 until Death and state funeral of George VI, his death in 1952. ...

Earley Town Council Earley is a town and civil parish in the Borough of Wokingham, Berkshire, England. Along with the neighbouring town of Woodley, the Office for National Statistics places Earley within the Reading/Wokingham Urban Area; for the purposes of local ...

had been in negotiation with Reading Borough Council, as successors to the Corporation of Reading, for some years now regarding the possibility of the transfer of ownership. A breakthrough in the negotiations came in 1998, when the Borough Council agreed to a 25-year lease of the old hard

tennis court A tennis court is the venue where the sport of tennis is played. It is a firm rectangular surface with a low net stretched across the centre. The same surface can be used to play both doubles and singles matches. A variety of surfaces can be ...

area on which the Town Council wished to erect a Sports and Skate Park. This facility, which has been provided by

Town Council, was officially opened in July 1999 by Councillor Andrew Long, Chairman of Earley Town Council. It includes one sport court for five-a-side football and/or basketball. Discussions as to potential partnership arrangements between Earley Town Council and Reading Borough Council were successfully concluded in 1999 with regard to the remainder of the Park, which is held on a 50-year lease. When the area was conveyed to the Borough Council back in the 1930s, a Trust was set up by the late Sol Joel, and even if any new arrangement was agreed, Reading Borough Council, as the Trustees, would need to retain the freehold although Earley Town Council manages and has improved most of the remaining facilities. There has been significant investment in facilities in the park in recent times. In Jan 2012 the then Mayor of Earley Town, Cllr Tim Chambers opened a large new skate park replacing the previous wooden structure and in June 2012 a new Parkour site, the first in the region, was officially opened by Mayor of Wokingham Borough Council Bob Wyatt and Earley Town Mayor Pauline Jorgensen. This has replaced the under used inline hockey pitch opened in 1999. The Town Council replaced the pavilion on the site starting in September 2012 with the demolition of the old wooden structure. Since 2012 the site has been protected by

Fields in Trust Fields in Trust, is a British charity set up in 1925 as the National Playing Fields Association (NPFA), by Brigadier-General Reginald Kentish and the Duke of York, later King George VI, who was the first president, which protects parks and green ...

as part of the Queen Elizabeth II Fields Challenge. This was a project to safeguard the future of parks and green spaces as public recreation land for future generations to enjoy and provide a permanent legacy of the Diamond Jubilee and the Olympics.

References

External links

{{commons category, Sol Joel Park
Information about Earley
1927 establishments in England Parks and open spaces in Reading, Berkshire Sports venues in Reading, Berkshire Joel family