Anke: Royal Tunbridge Wells

The Polished War Memorial

I stopped by the War Memorial in passing today and had a quick chat with Ally, the stonemason tasked with its restoration.

Ally cleans and fills in the cracks.

As the monument has recently been given Grade II listed status following recommendations by English Heritage, the Council has decided to give the memorial a well-deserved sprucing up.

A stonemason, namely Ally, has been given the task of repairing the cracks, refurbishing the lettering and cleaning the stonework. Another craftsman will be giving all the brasswork and the statue itself a good polish next week so it's really going to look stunning.

The Memorial is a tribute to the fallen heroes of the First World War and was designed by Stanley Nicholson Babb (1874-1957) in 1922. It was unveiled in February 1923 by Colonel Viscount Hardinge. The plaques were added later to remember the fallen of the Second World War.

Ally cleans and fills in the cracks.

Holocaust Memorial Day 2010

Holocaust Memorial Day is commemorated on 27th January each year. This date was chosen as it is the anniversary of the day in 1945 on which the Soviet Army liberated the largest Nazi concentration camp – Auschwitz-Birkenau. 1.5m children died and some of the survivors where present here to lay wreaths.

There is now a couple of very moving videos here and here by local video-journalist Tom Chown.

Remember the Victoria Cross Grove

Another beautiful day in our beautiful town. Perfect time to take a walk to Dunorlan Park and enjoy the sunshine.

We thought it best to avoid the crowds of kiddies running around kicking balls and splashing around in the boating lake and decided to head into the nice overgrown part that is left to nature with its meadows of buttercups and elderflowers. In the middle of which is a grove of 21 oak trees with a peaceful circular bench to sit and contemplate the new Victoria Cross memorial. Its a lovely place to take a rest from the sun in the cool shade and admire the interesting modern sculpture created by Charles Gurrey with poetic extracts from the poet laureate Andrew Motion's Remembrance carved into its stone wings.

...the sacrifice then shade the wind slides through...
...the life lines then the lists of names and dates...
...and we can honour each one as we should...

Walking back towards the cafe for a well earned cold beverage we crossed the wooden bridge over the little feeder pond that is a little calmer than the rest of the main lake. The more timid birdlife of the park like it here and there were proud mallard parents with their new-born ducklings in tow and a lovely moorhen with two very cute little chicks, in fact the whole lake was thriving with springtime babies.

If you have some free time this summer or you just enjoy the park as much as we do then Dunorlan's head gardener Tony Ewins is looking for volunteers to help around the park. This is a fantastic opportunity to help out the local community and to have a really enjoyable day out to boot. You can be sure to find my wife and I there this summer trying to help out as best we can. See you there.