IT IS one of the city’s most unusual parks, full of history and culture, with links to a famous Royal princess.

Garnethill Park celebrates its 30th anniversary this week and more than 300 people gathered to celebrate with a day of music and entertainment.

The small urban park was created as part of Glasgow’s City of Culture celebrations. The Goethe Institute commissioned landscape designer Dieter Magnus to design a park for the area – and in honour of his connection to the place, the Institute sent a representative to the birthday celebrations.

Glasgow Times: Diana Princess of Wales after being presented with a bouquet by 10 year old Yesha Yadav as she arrived at the Garnethill Park in Glasgow. Seen with the designer of the park Dieter Hagnus. December, 1991

Garnethill Park was opened in April 1991 by the then Lord Provost Susan Baird and visited later that year by Princess Diana.

Our photograph shows her with Dieter Hagnus, just after 10-year-old Yesha Yadav presented her with a bouquet.

Residents planted a rosebush in Diana’s honour to mark the park’s 25th anniversary.

The green space is also home to a mosaic mural, a children’s playpark, and the ‘mini-coliseum’ steps where office workers, students and schoolchildren often sit in the sunshine. A water feature created by Dieter is in need of some repair.

The unusual landscaping was added to in 2005 by local artist Ulrike Enslein, who cast concrete slabs amongst the granite paths.

Carved into these stones scattered around the park are anecdotes written by local residents over the decades, which tell the story of Garnethill and its people.

Glasgow Times: Garnethill Park. Photo by Kirsty Anderson

Just a few minutes’ walk from Sauchiehall Street, Garnethill Park is one of the city’s best kept secrets – although at the weekend, this much-loved urban oasis was alive with the sound of children playing, all-woman drumming group Sheboom and birds of prey as the party got underway.

In addition, Garnethill’s senior residents were treated to lunch at the Willow Tea Rooms in Sauchiehall Street, courtesy of Garnethill Community Council.

Alison Thewliss, MP and Kaukab Stewart, MSP, were also on hand to enjoy the festivities.

“We have been delighted with the support of local businesses in the area who have donated food, drinks and supported us in the last 30 years,” said Lesley Mulholland, chairperson of Garnethill Community Council.

“The amount of people who turned up on a dreich Scottish day shows what a tight-knit community Garnethill is. We have yet to count up the amount raised through our tombola but are expecting it to be in the hundreds of pounds which will do a lot of good to the Simon Community, which is our chosen charity.”

She added: “It was fantastic that The Goethe Institute sent a representative for Deiter, which shows how memorable his work here was.”

Now a well-established community hub, the park was recently designated Scotland’s first Urban Quiet Space.

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Lesley added: “This has led to funding from the Scottish Government for a sculptural seating area to mark the occasion. The award has also attracted some investment from local businesses and the council is hopeful that this will help with repairs to Deiter Magnus’ water feature.”

What are your favourite memories of Garnethill Park? Did you grow up in Garnethill? Send your memories and photos to Times Past, by emailing ann.fotheringham@glasgowtimes.co.uk