Wicksteed Park enters administration just a year before centenary celebrations
A Northamptonshire theme park has gone into administration - just a year before it's due to celebrate its centenary.
Wicksteed Park in Kettering was opened by Charles Wicksteed in 1921.
It claims to be the oldest theme park on the UK mainland and one of the oldest in the world.
The park is owned by the Wicksteed Charitable Trust but is run by a subsidiary company, Wicksteed Park Limited.
That subsidiary company has called in the administrators due to the huge financial strain of the coronavirus pandemic - resulting in the loss of 115 jobs.
Oliver Wicksteed, chairman of the trust, said: “We are all devastated by what has happened and the effect this will have on our staff, their families and our visitors.
“We are working hard to enable the park to continue but the reality is that without urgent significant support Wicksteed Park will not survive as we know it.”
A new, smaller company, backed by the trust, has now been set up to try to raise enough money to keep the park operating until next spring when it's hoped it will be able to reopen in time for its 100th birthday.
In the meantime, the trust will endeavor to keep the free playgrounds and parkland open, as well as the pavilion for forthcoming functions and shows.
Mr Wicksteed admitted the costs of running the old business were "crippling" and couldn't have been sustained in the current climate.
He also said the costs of social distancing measures and the reduced capacity would have meant it wouldn't have been "financially viable" to fully reopen the park in July.
“The new company, funded by the trust, is a much streamlined business aimed at getting the park through to next spring when it can hopefully start to re-open fully but we need people’s help, support and understanding in order to try and make that happen," he said.
“We now need people, not least the Government, to recognise all we have done for the many millions of people who need our park and our work supporting the community."