Memorial Garden and Assembly Area
The view inside the gates is very much our “shop window” and the location for our Memorial Garden and Assembly Area for visitors. As 2020 progressed it became apparent we needed space for a sanitisation station and induction space for placements and volunteers.
In autumn 2020 the area from the path leading to “Old Ground” across to our Memorial Shelter and the path to “The Glade” was excavated and widened. Foundations and Groundguard were laid to give an accessible and all weather surface with vehicular access as required. All work was carried out by volunteers with funding from the Co-op Community Fund.
The second stage of this development was creating a Memorial Garden with seats and four planters. This is to the left of the entrance gates as you enter and was supported with funding from Leeds City Council Outer West Community Committee, Borough of Pudsey Charity and donation of materials from Palmers Plants Ltd. The work was volunteer led and completed by October 2020. A large number of bulbs have been planted in the area and in 2021 commemorative plaques were affixed to the planters to commemorate the “War” dead and infants in the unmarked graves. Our two “Gabion” (metal cage) benches incorporates Yorkshire Stone donated from the craftsmen who built the new Rodley War Memorial situated in nearby Rodley Park.
Included and completed in this project was the building and placement of tree seats and railway sleeper benches throughout the cleared areas of the Rehoboth funded by a grant from Pudsey Freemasons. Earlier in 2020 the first tree seat (dedicated to his grandmother) was built by volunteer Jeremy Brantner and affixed in his Keighley family area affectionately known as “Keighley Corner”. This formed the design for other tree seats.
