Huge improvements at GWR Park during lockdown

Work to improve GWR Park’s Human Sundial and WW1 Memorial is underway. The Parish Council has commissioned work to enhance the setting of the sundial by stripping back the soil and installing a resin bound gravel around the stones with a connecting path from the main path in GWR Park.

The same gravel flooring is being placed around the WW1 memorial. This will replace the current flooring around the memorial which is worn with weeds growing around it. It will also be included in the entrance to GWR Park play area.

Work is expected to be completed by the end of this week.

The human sundial is next to GWR Park’s recently refurbished play area. It was installed in 2007 in memory of Winnie Ockwell and funded by her daughters Caroline and Christine. Buried underneath is a time capsule, filled by St Saviours Brownie pack, to be opened in 2104 – Winnie Ockwell was one of the first Brownies in Swindon, having joined the St Marks pack in 1917.

The WW1 memorial was installed in November 2018 to commemorate the 100^th anniversary of the signing of Armistice.

All works will cost £8,700. This will be paid for by the Community Infrastructure Levy the Parish Council retains.

The Parish Council’s Leisure and Amenities Committee agreed to the work at its meeting in March. It’s Chair, Councillor Neil Hopkins, said: “This is still a work in progress but is more good news for GWR Park. Since South Swindon Parish Council took over the park on a 99 year lease we have recently refurbished the play area, installed a WWI memorial, improved the shrub maintenance and supported the installation of the Mother Language Day Memorial. This improved flooring will further add to the quality of GWR Park and rejuvenate the human sundial.

"We also have plans to refurbish the old toilet block as a Gardener’s Depot and reintroduce some formal flower bed planting into the park. So more investment in the park will be coming.

"We look forward to seeing the final product of the gravel flooring.”