The post-war years were marked by scarcity, but also by quiet determination. At Astley Hall, the spirit of renewal was led by Mr. William Cann, Chorley’s Parks and Recreation Grounds Superintendent from 1942 to 1967. A Kew-trained horticulturist, he lived with his family in The Cottage behind the Hall and dedicated his career to reviving Chorley’s public parks and green spaces—starting with the forgotten edges of Astley itself.

Walled gardens, once essential for growing food, had been overgrown as the war shifted national priorities. When Mr. Cann returned, he didn’t simply restore the past. Instead, he planted towards the future.

He began growing cut flowers —cultivating rows of bold, colourful blooms to be used for civic ceremonies, the Hall, and displays across the borough. These flowers, carefully grown under constraint, became symbols of resilience and hope. They showed that beauty could rise again, even when resources were few.

This garden captures that same spirit of transition. One side is cultivated—drawing on the feeling of Mr. Cann’s floral displays: generous, cheerful, and full of intent. The other side is left untamed, where native grasses and wild plants have taken root. It feels unruly, but it holds its own kind of beauty—a suggestion of what still might come.

This is a garden of contrasts: order and wildness, memory and imagination, past and future. It asks:

• How do we rebuild when we must start again?

• What does it mean to tend, to wait, to believe in what’s yet to grow?

• And how do we honour the people who brought life back with their own hands?

The Garden of Mr. Cann is a tribute to that legacy. A quiet revival. A bridge between eras. A story planted in the soil—and still growing.