South Swindon Parish Council have agreed further improvements to the Town Gardens. To mark the 75th anniversary of VE and VJ Day, South Swindon Parish Council have agreed to clean up the Town Gardens VE Day stone memorial near to the stepped entrance and the Bandstand.
The memorial was placed in the gardens on the 50th Anniversary of VE day in 1995. Unfortunately, over time, moss and lichen have obscured the extract from the Siegfried Sassoon poem “Everyone Sang” which were engraved on the stone. The Parish Council has agreed to spend £1,645 to clean the memorial, re-engrave the lettering and finish with black enamel.
In 2019 South Swindon Parish Council signed a 99-year lease for the Town Gardens.
South Swindon Parish Council’s Chair, Chris Watts, said, “The Parish Council is proud to be doing this work for the Town Gardens VE Day memorial. We feel people would want any memorial commemorating VE Day to be well maintained and retain its original appearance.
Siegfried Sassoon’s poem describes the jubilant celebrations at the end of the war and the mixed emotions people would have felt. It’s great we will be able to showcase this poem for people to read.
The work to improve the memorial in the Town Gardens follows the current restoration of the historic Town Garden gates and also work to create a WW2 memorial in Queen’s Park which people will be hearing more about closer to VE Day.”
Old Town Parish Councillor, Jane Milner-Barry, said,“This is another great news story for Old Town and I am really grateful to the Parish Councillors on South Swindon Parish Council for agreeing to this work. Since the Parish Council took on the leasehold of the Town Gardens last year we have already started the restoration of the historic gates and there is a lot more to come in the months and years ahead.”
