Centenary Garden Project Begins To Take Shape In Cranleigh

Published on: 14 Jan, 2018
Updated on: 14 Jan, 2018

A special garden project has begun to take shape in Cranleigh.

Designed to honour local people who lost their lives over the past 100 years in conflict and those left behind who ‘kept the home fires burning’, it is supported by Fields in Trust, the Royal British Legion, Surrey County Playing Fields Association and Cranleigh Parish Council.

The parish council has dedicated a corner of Snoxhall Fields to be a tranquil natural woodland-style centenary garden, to open this November, in time for the 100th anniversary of the signing of the Armistice in 1918. It is being created by a group of villagers passionate about the village, gardening, local history and design.

Plans for a centenary garden in Cranleigh are beginning to take shape.

Andy Bamford of Cranleigh in Bloom, who has been involved, said: “This is a worthwhile community project, putting a garden at the communal centre of this area.”

The chairman of the project, Liz Townsend, said: “Uniquely in this country there will be an interactive element to allow visitors to listen to voices from the past. Letters from and to the front in the First World War, as well as a ‘listening project’ style set of interviews from the Second World War and in more current conflicts.”

These voices will come from the villages of Ewhurst, Shamley Green, Wonersh, Dunsfold and Alfold as well as Cranleigh. The experience will be both physical and virtual with QR (Quick Response) codes connecting the garden to a website, audiovisual material and further content.

Brian Freeston, a member of the group, added: “I have had previous experience of creating oral history projects and they are very significant in bringing people together.

“This area is facing huge change in a very short time and many more people are going to ask themselves just what it means to belong here. The one thing we can all share is a common past and this project could go a long way to answer that.”

A fund has been set up for donations. Contact Cranleigh Parish Council for a donating leaflet at the contact page on www.cranleighpc.org.

For further information, email parish councillors Brian Freeston on brianfcpc@gmail.com or Liz Townsend on liz.yourcranleigh@gmail.com