The French Garden
At St Andrews Anglican Church, Cambridge
The French Garden was unveiled and dedicated in the grounds of St Andrews Church, Cambridge, on the 11th of June 2006. They had been created in the preceding weeks, as was the traditional style covered lich-gate, on the Victoria Street side of the churchyard.
The garden marks the links between the church itself and Cambridge as a whole with the country of France. Within the formal box hedges ar shrubs and white standard roses there were three plaques. These mark links to France in World War One, World War two and modern times.
The World War One connection is the plaque in memorial to the late Lieutenant Colonel Lawrence 'Curly' Blyth, who had been the last surviving member of the New Zealand Division during the Battle of Le Quesnoy. He passed away in 2001, and during the ceremony on the unveiling of the garden in 2006 his ashes were buried beneath the plaque.
The World War Two connection is a plaque unveiled by Cambridge born John Morris who dedicated this memorial to Maurice and Lucienne Vouzelaud, who were members of the French Resistence that saved John following his having to bail out of a Lancaster bomber over occupied France. You can read more about this on Dave Homewood's website here
And the modern connection is a plaque celebrating the twinning of the towns of Cambridge and Le Quesnoy.
The following photos were taken during the unveiling of the garden and plaques on the 11th of June 2006. All the photos on this page were taken by Dave Homewood
Above: The late John Morris unveiling his plaque
Above: Lt Col Lawrence 'Curly' Blyth's ashes are buried. Looking on in the centre of this photo are his son Jackson and daughter Margaret
Above: The Cambridge Municipal Band provides music for the event
John Morris, on the left, with his extended family who gathered for the event. Below are photos of the garden taken on the day of the unveiling.
