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Remembering GP’s victims in £1m Hyde Park revamp

Sue Carr
27/10/2004

WORK is due to start on a special memorial garden to remember the victims of killer GP Harold Shipman.

The 'Garden of Tranquility' is part of a £1m scheme to regenerate Hyde Park and will be based in the old rose garden.

It has been designed around ideas linking the old and the new, rebirth and the celebration of life.

The garden will be replanted with old-fashioned rose varieties plus other plants to excite sight, touch and scent.

It is intended as a peaceful refuge for quiet contemplation and will include the central feature of a bubble fountain to represent life with an inscribed plaque funded by the Hyde Colliery Explosion Relief Fund.

In the new section there will be a natural stone feature with a small tree growing in the centre.

Councillor Joe Kitchen, deputy leader of Tameside Council and whose mother Alice was murdered by Shipman, said: "The Garden of Tranquility will offer people a chance to stop, reflect and celebrate the lives of their loved ones. It's not just for Hyde people either but for anyone from further afield too.

"We've carried out extensive consultations with people who use the park and we want to extend that to encourage the formation of a Friends of Hyde Park group."

He added: "It has been designed following discussions with families in Hyde and Victim Support and in spring we will be celebrating the end of the refurbishment and a great new facility."

The project, given the go-ahead in 2002, is being funded by a £589,000 Heritage Lottery Fund grant with the remaining money given by the council.

Other major work on the Victorian park includes restoring the grade two listed bandstand and the lodge on Park Road.

The old glasshouses will also be cleared to create a new open green and a new works depot is being built plus a brand new toilet block.