Page 18 - Kentculture Creative Magazine

kentculture folkestonecreative.co.uk Summer 2016
AROUND AND ABOUT
MEMORIAL GARDEN
Lottery money worth nearly £10,000 has been awarded to a group of Shepway women to build a unique garden in Folkestone’s Lower Leas Coastal Park. e grant from Awards for All will go towards turning this beautiful secluded spot, which looks out over the English Channel near the park’s Sandgate exit, into a place for re ection and memory in the journey to come to terms with tragic loss.
DESIGN BASED ON A HELIX
For Jan Elston, Anne Greer and Diana Harrison – all of them have unexpectedly and shockingly lost
a child - the sloping site is the perfect place to create a place to lookout and remember those ‘who died before their time’. e Look Out and Remember memorial garden will be a designated space where families and friends of loved ones who have died can go to nd solace within sight of the sea. ere will be a pebble path and pool where the bereaved can
the sea, with its big skies, changing light, smells and sounds. It helps me to feel calmer, gives me a sense of peace as I try to come to terms with Kate’s death.’
Please visit the Look Out and Remember Facebook page or email Laura at laurafroude@gmail.com for up-to-date information.
leave ‘memory stones’ as an act of remembrance.
Diana Harrison, whose daughter, Kate, died aged 33 a er losing a battle with alcoholism, said: ‘We each feel the enormous bene t of spending time walking or sitting by
Working in partnership with CRUSE Bereavement Care South, the garden aims to provide a non- denominational and multi cultural space which welcomes everyone. Close friend and artist, Laura Froude, will supervise its design and construction using mostly lo- cal materials to create the decora- tive pebble path leading up the slope from a shady copse. ere will be benches looking out to sea over the pool at the top of the slope and three cairns to mark strategic spots along the path.
Last year the project was granted a ve year lease by Shepway District Council whose Parks Maintenance team will cut the route of the path, dig the pool and install the benching. e completed garden will be maintained by the council as a permanent feature in the park. Developing the project has given Anne, Diana, Jan and Laura hope that the garden will act as a catalyst where people can reach out to each other through personal loss in di erent ways. e project will point those who request it
in the direction of counselling support from CRUSE.
Project granted a five year lease
MACKESON SQUARE
REGENERATION OF MACKESON SQUARE
In April 2016, Hythe Civic Society, in partnership with Shepway District Council, carried out a public consulta on exercise to elicit opinion on the proposal to re-generate the part of Red Lion Square known as Mackeson Square.
The objec ve of the project is to create an a rac ve, light, welcoming area, visible from the road, with a new surface and so landscaping, which will provide an open vista to the High Street and a ract passing visitors into the town. Jackson Square also
new hard landscaping has been put in place - including pathways across the space - and the remaining area turfed with good-quality grass and a new tree planted. This is a low- maintenance solu on, not requiring constant repair when tree roots grow near the surface. The exis ng shrubs in peripheral areas and in the triangular bed to the west of the square have all been removed and will be replaced by a more simple, homogeneous, plan ng scheme. The emphasis is on sustainability.
provides a green space in which residents may sit, rest and 2016 picnic. It is felt that this MACKESON can be achieved by opening up the area to make it lighter and greener. The exis ng paving slabs have been removed,
SQUARE
PROJECT NOW COMPLETED
18