ROMANS and Victorians will visit Cliffe Castle Park on Thursday, June 29 part of a historic celebration.

They will march alongside around 250 children from local schools in a costume parade to mark the completion of the park’s refurbishment with National Lottery cash.

The Lord Mayor and Lady Mayoress of Bradford, Cllr Abid Hussain and Shahnaz Akhtar, will be among guests during the event running from 12.45pm to 2pm.

The children from six Keighley schools will march around the newly-restored pond and marble fountains, and the new planting towards the glass show house.

After learning about the contents of a recently recovered Victorian time capsule, the children took part in a workshop inside Cliffe Castle Museum to gain ideas from the exhibits of what to include in a new time capsule.

This will be presented to Bradford Lord Mayor Cllr Abid Hussain before being buried for 50 years in the domed palm house.

The schools are Eastwood Community School, Haworth Primary Academy, Merlin Top Primary Academy, Our Lady of Victories Catholic Primary, Riddlesden St Mary's CE Primary, and Holy Family Catholic School.

The £4.5 million restoration of Cliffe Castle park is due to be completed by the end of next month with further celebrations planned.

Bradford Council successfully bid for £3.5 million from the Heritage Lottery Fund’s Parks for People programme to carry out the work which started a year ago.

The project has been designed with support from volunteers in the Cliffe Castle Park Conservation Group.

Cllr Sarah Ferriby, Bradford Council’s Executive Member for Environment, Sport and Culture, said: “This promises to be a great day for our young people to enjoy the culmination of this amazing project and for the rest of us to appreciate the value of both the museum and park at Cliffe Castle.

“They are tremendous assets for Keighley and the wider district. They can both be used by local schools to support a whole range of ways that help classroom teaching.

“It’s marvellous to see everything coming together and the whole area starting to take shape in its full summer splendour.”

Golden hits, brass, folk, hip-hop and a Swiss horn will help mark the completion of the £4.5 million restoration of Cliffe Castle Park.

A packed programme of entertainment was recently unveiled by the council unveiled for the celebration day on July 30, when the public will be invited to witness the dramatic improvements.