Chalkwell Park in a Snow Globe

What would you put in a ‘snow globe’ to keep forever, frozen in time? Would it be a memory, a beautiful scene, or a loved one’s image? Sharon Harris, one of our local Chalkwell expert estate agents discusses.

In this snow globe, there is a scene from Chalkwell Park, captured by Louisa Hennessy.

Chalkwell Park is situated just off the London Road, situated between Leigh-on-Sea and Westcliff-on-Sea.

This was the beautiful park of my childhood, with its pond and brooks, its landscaped rose gardens and fun swing parks. But most of all, in its midst, it held a tiny zoo and the star of this zoo was Lulu the Sun Bear.

Where her life began is not known, but she was rescued from a boat out in the Thames Estuary and presented to Chalkwell Park Zoo.

She joined the monkeys and the chimpanzees, the goats and the peacocks, the rabbits and the guinea pigs.

We would go along and stare at her with awe and as I recall, the notice on her cage said that she could be fed cakes and not sweets or it might have been the reverse, she could have sweets but not cakes. There lies the clue…who really knew how to care for a sun bear in 1968?

A posse from London Zoo came and gave advice and suggested that conditions should be improved. More space was needed as her enclosure was no bigger than the chimps’ and monkeys’ one.

If I think hard, I cannot ever remember her standing tall and now I realise her cage was too small. She would sit by the bars and munch whatever was thrown in; a huge, live, teddy bear.

With hindsight, she was probably miserable and distressed and her enclosure was her prison. Now she lies, finally, in Great Wakering’s grave yard.

Would I keep her fixed in a ‘snow globe’ now? …No.

What I would keep in there, is the happy memory of fishing for tadpoles in the brook, when the Chalkwell Park ‘Parkie’ wasn’t looking.

Want to live near Chalkwell park, then contact our chalkwell expert estate agents