laid the improvements out at the southern entrance to the park. A total of three bowling greens are laid between 1923 and 1925 below the eastern end of the broadwalk. A putting green is opened in 1925. The land near Revidge that the Corporation had purchased from the Red Rake Farm was converted into ten hard tennis courts and ornamental gardens in 1924. Again, the work was carried out by the unemployed as part of a £17,000 scheme which included widening the Revidge Road. In 1937, it was recommended by the Parks Committee that the four German field guns installed in the park after World War I be sold for scrap the Russian cannons were to be kept for the time being. In 1938 it was announced that the Russian guns to be re-conditioned and have their oak carriages replaced by concrete. Plans for new toilets at the southern entrance to the park were approved on 22 February 1939. With the outbreak of World War II, the bandstand, gates and railings were dismantled in 1941 for salvage towards the war effort. In 1950, a timber aviary was constructed close to the conservatory. Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II in 1953 was commemorated by the planting of two oaks in the middle of the Italian gardens, one on each side of the central path leading up to the Broadwalk. The statue of Flora has been subject to three serious acts of vandalism since 1951. On the centenary of Blackburn's incorporation as a borough the work was daubed with red paint and given a blue sash which read "Centenary Queen 1851-1951". In October 1952 the bun at the back of Flora's head was broken off and a chip from the shoulder section when the statue was knocked of its pedestal. On the night of 21 January 1960 the statue was again attacked with paint in a protest against apartheid in South Africa. A strip of hardboard was hung round the neck reading "1960 Africa Year - Boycot [sic] S.A. goods" It was reported a crowd of unknown teenagers "invaded" the park in 1957 to dance to rock 'n' roll records played on a portable gramophone. In the same year, three weeks are taken to resurface the main drive from the Preston New Road to West Park Road entrances. A new aviary was opened in 1958, replacing the existing timber one with a more