More than 1,300 members of our Community are remembered in our Rose Garden. Some are marked by plaques, others are not. When the garden was closed for further ashes burials in 2019, we opened a new Remembrance Garden to the South East of the Church. This is now in full use and provides a beautiful and peaceful place for visitors to remember their loved ones.

For some years now, it has become difficult to maintain the Rose Garden due to poor soil quality, old and diseased plants and self-seeded and relative-planted shrubs and flowers. This has led to the garden becoming unkept and neglected looking. Canon law forbids the disturbance of remains and thus major maintenance of the area has become an increasing problem.

The pathways around the Rose Garden are also uneven and some are prone to moss and ice in the winter, thus creating a hazard to, our often elderly, visitors.

We intend to retain the existing plaques but to use a weed suppressing decorative mulch over the burial areas. Existing roses and other shrubs will be cut down and removed as far as possible without disturbing the ground. A series of raised beds will be introduced to enable fresh planting of roses and evergreen shrubs to provide colour and interest throughout the year. The pathways will be relaid and all edges will be repaired with new grassed areas.

Our proposals are in the early stages of review by the Diocese. You can read a summary of our proposals here.

This is your Garden. We welcome your comments about our plans and will be happy to discuss them in more detail if you have any concerns or ideas. You can contact us either through the Parish office (parishoffice@christchurchswindon.co.uk) or Tel 522832. The project is being led by Ian Handy who has been responsible for both the Garden of Reflection and the Remembrance Garden and who has a lifetimes experience of and love for beautiful gardens. He would like to talk to any family member who has planted a rose or shrub about their options. You can contact him via the Parish Office using the details above.

At the moment, there are no funds available to complete the work, if you would like to contribute towards the costs you can do so on the Just Giving button above.

You can also give us a donation by contacting our Parish Office on 01793 522832 or parishoffice@christchurchswindon.co.uk

Thank you