Peace and Happiness Garden

You’ll find the Peace and Happiness Garden at the right hand side of St Annes Pier. It’s a sheltered sun trap on a nice day, the home of the statue of the late, great Les Dawson.

We took a walk around St Annes seafront. This video ends on the Peace and Happiness Garden –

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Peace and Happiness Garden

These photos of the Garden were taken on a beautiful, bright Spring day in mid March.

Head for the entrance to St Annes Pier where there’s a small pay and display car park. Walk under the archway in the centre of the brick-building at the right (below) and you’ll enter the world of the Peace and Happiness Garden…

There are brick built shelters along both sides, with flower beds and paths in the centre. It’s only a small park, a garden really, as the name suggests. Right in the centre is the statue of former St Annes resident, the late-great funny man, Les Dawson. He lived in the town for many years.

Les was born on 2 February 1931. Sadly he suffered a major heart attack and died, on 10 June 1993 aged just 62. The statue, by Barnsley sculptor Graham Ibbeson, was unveiled on 23 October 2008, 15 years after his death.

Famous Faces from St Annes

There are lots of benches inside the brick shelters around the outside of the garden. It’s a handy place to shelter from the Great British Weather (ie rain!) but it’s also somewhere to sit for a quiet moment to enjoy the peace.

Above the benches are famous faces from St Annes – including performers from the world of show business and more besides. St Annes has always been a popular place where television personalities choose to live. It’s easy to see why!

All about the Peace and Happiness Garden

There’s also two interesting information panels inside the Peace and Happiness garden. They explain how the area has changed over the years since the land was acquired in the early 1900s.

Although it has a formal name (and has had a few different ones over the years) many people call it the Les Dawson Garden. It’s understandable, as St Annes seafront is so big that it’s often best to navigate by landmarks.

History of the Peace and Happiness Garden

This formal sunken garden has existing in various forms since its acquisition from the Land & Building Company in the early 1900’s. The original layout of the footpaths remains today. It wasn’t until 1957 that the surrounding wall and shelters were added.

For many years the flower beds followed the formal bedding style of the original Victorian/Edwardian designers. However, by 2008 the windblown sand had raised the lawns by about 30cm/1ft! So the grass was returfed and the shrub beds removed and replanted. At the same time the statue of Les was added, unveiled by wife Tracy Dawson.

Then in 2017 the gardens were improved again, and new community created artwork added. And it had another name change, to the Peace & Happiness Garden, to recognise the added elements of entertainment and community involvement.

Garden Designs

St Annes in Bloom now tend to the Peace and Happiness Garden. Although very exposed to harsh winter weather, in summer it bursts into life with pretty flower displays. Why don’t you go and have a look?