‘Circle of Hope’: Pontefract's rock snake cemented in Valley Gardens to commemorate the community coming together

The snake, which is made up of hundreds of painted stones, decorated by children of the area, began at the start of lockdown as a fun community project to lift spirits during the pandemic.

The stones were placed around a tree in the gardens by families to create a coiled snake, each colourful rock adding to the length.

Rachel Riley, member of Friends of Friarwood Valley Gardens, said: “We knew early on that we wanted to find a permanent home for the snake.

“It was the council who kindly cemented the snake in place for us, about a month ago we arranged it with them and they were happy to help us.

“We were going to do it ourselves originally, but we are very appreciative and thankful to the council for doing such a good job.”

In preparation for the permanent fixture, Rachel and the chairman of Friends of Friarwood Valley Gardens, Colin White, collected the hundreds of rocks from around the tree and put them in order according to size.

Rachel’s dad, Chris, and her two sons, cleaned and varnished each of the rocks to preserve their designs.

And on the morning of Thursday July 30, the council helped the Friends of Friarwood Valley Gardens unload the rocks and cement the Circle of Hope in place under a tree near the children's play area.

It was complete before midday.

Rachel said: “It looks amazing, we had to leave it to dry for a few days because we wanted to preserve it as much as we possibly could.

“But now all the fencing around it is down and the Circle of Hope has a nice little home near the kids play area, where we hope it will remain for a really long time.

“A lot of kids have put their names on their rocks so they’ve left their mark on there forever - people were even coming down in the morning to add more rocks to it, it’s been a lovely community project.”

The name ‘Circle of Hope’ came from a Facebook vote after the Friends of Friarwood Valley Gardens issued a post asking the people of Pontefract what they’d like to name the snake.

‘Circle of Hope’ received the majority vote, and a stone showing the snake’s name is cemented as the centerpiece of the community project.

Rachel said: “It was amazing to see everyone getting involved, the ‘Circle of Hope’ is going to remain a piece of history that we’ve created.

“When the kids who contributed are older, they’ll be able to point out their rock and say it was theirs.

“It’s just brilliant, it’s a fantastic addition to the Valley Gardens, and makes a lovely attraction for people to come and visit.”