IT IS the pride of east Hull and has once again retained the coveted Green Flag Award.
East Park in Holderness Road is the only park in the city to receive the accolade, which is handed out by national environmental charity Keep Britain Tidy.
It recognises and rewards the best parks and green spaces across the country.
This grade two listed park recently benefited from a council- assisted lottery grant totalling £10m, which has helped to bring in new additions, such as a Victorian- style bandstand.
This will be the eighth year running that the park has retained the Green Flag Award.
Steve Simms, environmental manager for Hull City Council, said it gets tougher each year.
He said: "This year we had a mystery judge instead of an organised tour, so we didn't even know when they were coming.
"It's been a real team effort between everyone in parks and street scene services, volunteers and the local community.
"We have so many attractions in East Park and we're hoping the new bandstand will be well used.
"When the mystery judge came it was already being constructed, so they would have seen improvements being made. They would have looked at how well-used the park is, signage and infrastructure."
There are about 130 acres of parkland, featuring a splash boat, an animal education centre and café, a water play area and more.
The splash boat in particular is a popular feature and attracts hundreds of people every summer.
The Friends of East Park are a longstanding group who have raised money for new projects in the park and they regularly hold social events for local people.
A number of community groups, including Hull Model Boat Club and East Park Archers, are also helping to promote the open space.
Andrew Wilson, parks and open spaces development manager at the city council, said the award is "incredibly important for Hull".
He said: "We'd like to see other open spaces in Hull receive this award and we're looking at putting forward Oak Road Playing Fields next year.
"Visitors do look at those that have Green Flag status."
Lord Mayor of Hull Councillor Nadine Fudge also went along to the park to celebrate the award.
She said: "East Park really is the pride of Hull and staff work very hard all year round. This shows people appreciate what they do."
