Lincolnshire Peace Garden Completed in Time for Queen’s Birthday Celebrations

On the evening of 21 April 2016 we celebrated the creation of the Lincolnshire Peace Garden for the International Bomber Command Centre Memorial Park, supported by grant aid from WREN, funded by the Landfill Communities Fund from FCC Environment and Veolia Environmental Trust.

WREN Managing Director, Peter Cox.

Veolia Environmental Trust Board Member, Derek Goodenough with his wife Pamela.

The completion of the garden coincided with the Queen’s 90^th birthday and the site was bestowed with the great and historical honour of hosting one of only 1000 beacons as part of the birthday celebrations.

The Beacon is set up ready for lighting.

Mr James Flowers, Second World War aircrew veteran, lit the beacon at the Memorial Park, which has been designed by Influence. With views over the City and Cathedral, the Park is a fitting tribute to those lost and for those who remember.

Veteran, James Flowers addresses the specially invited audience.

Veteran, James Flowers reflects on his lighting of one of the Queen’s Beacons.

The garden includes 27 lime trees, arranged to represent each of the 27 Lincolnshire Stations of Bomber Command. Grass seeding and new lawns unite the landscape of Lincoln’s South Common with the agricultural fields south of the Park. Bulbs, kindly donated to the project by Taylors Bulbs, spread out to flank the Memorial Avenue and approach to the Memorial Spire. Wildflower carpets incorporating symbolic poppies have been set between the Memorial walls that bear the names of those who did not return.

Station trees of the Lincolnshire Peace Garden complete within the wider landscape.

The Memorial Spire as the backdrop to the site’s amphitheatre.

Bulbs, donated by Taylor’s Bulbs, flank the Memorial Avenue.

Seating and planters funded by our WREN grant, situated between the Memorial walls.

The Lincolnshire Peace Gardens with the Beacon flame lit in front of the Memorial Spire.

The remaining garden, an International Peace Garden, which has been designed to represent both the British coastline and the five continents that fought in Bomber Command, will be completed during 2017.

Conceived as a landscape narrative, representing the anticipation, flight and indefinite return of the unassuming yet unyielding ‘Bomber Boys’, the International Bomber Command Centre Memorial Park is a place of quiet contemplation. It is an accolade to the veterans, where the Memorials take centre stage and the surrounding views and landscape character are merely complementary. This is a place to sit, reflect and remember the personal journeys of those involved.

The Memorial Spire and Beacon set against the evening sky over Lincoln City.

The Beacon flame in the night sky.