Norm Burton OAM and David Sciffer spearhead new park to honour Alice Fieldsend

Spearheaded by Norm Burton OAM and David Sciffer, the park was handed over on Monday, December 19.

Known as Alice Fieldsend (1874-1964), Mrs Fieldsend operated East Maitland's F.J. Fieldsend Pottery Works at a time when it was unusual for women to work, let alone run a business.

She took over the business after her husband Frederick Fieldsend died, and ran it with her two sons.

In other news:

The F.J. Fieldsend Pottery Works were vital to Maitland's community and economy - the booming business supplied the town with all-important sewerage pipes.

Not only did this make the business important for Maitland's sanitation and health, but it employed staff during the Great Depression, keeping families afloat.

On Monday morning, Mrs Fieldsend's descendants gathered alongside the Burton family, Mr Sciffer, Cr Peter Garnham and East Maitland residents to celebrate the park and pay tribute to the businesswoman's contribution to Maitland.

Norm Burton OAM wanted to get a park dedicated to Mrs Fieldsend as she helped his family and his father, Bob, when times were tough during the depression years.

"She was a great help to my family," Mr Burton said.

"She was very important in the town, an astute businesswoman."

Norm's father was employed by Mrs Fieldsend at the pottery works, and in the 1930s when the bank took their home, Mrs Fieldsend helped Norm's father get a deposit together to buy it back.

He wouldn't accept her offer for a loan of 500 pounds to pay the deposit, but he did accept her offer to work a few extra hours to make the money.

It's the home where Norm was born, grew up and still lives today.

Mr Burton and his long-time friend David Sciffer put the idea to council and after more than a year of getting the space re-zoned as park land and speaking with the Geographical Names Board, their hard work has paid off.

Alice Fieldsend Reserve is on the corner of Fieldsend Street and Alliance Street, East Maitland.

It's across the road from where Mrs Fieldsend used to live, and where the pottery works business boomed.

Mrs Fieldsend's granddaughter Elizabeth Schubert attended the handover on Monday with her children, and said the park is a great honour for her grandmother.

"She would have been so honoured to have this park here in her stead, and it also marks the area where her lifelong work was situated - right across the road," she said.

"That business contributed a lot to jobs and life in this area in the height of the depression, and it was such an important business because there were no plastic pipes in those days and they were relied upon heavily for all of the water mains, the sewerage mains - everything in the district."