JANNA GRAHAM
The Truro Daily News
BASS RIVER – A new veteran’s memorial park in Bass River will commemorate men and women from the area who have served in conflicts.
Dr. Karen Ewing, a local area physician, was inspired to design a memorial park to pay tribute to veterans, both deceased and living.
Three intersecting gardens, in a Celtic flower knot formation, will comprise the park.
“Bass River doesn’t have a remembrance or cenotaph and this seemed a perfect opportunity to give a living memorial in the form of a park,” Ewing says.
The first garden, the garden of sorrows, will recreate the atmosphere of a First World War trench. The walls of the trench will be lined with sandbags and display small vignettes and memorial stones of local area people who served in the armed forces.
The second garden, the garden of heritage, will display heritage species of flowers native to the area.
The third garden, the garden of hope, is an international garden with colourful flowers to represent, “hope for the future.”
All gardens will be wheelchair accessible.
Local business owner Jim Grue donated land for the park, which will be located directly across the road from Dominion Chair Factory store and Bass River Heritage Museum.
Ewing says Cobequid Veterans Memorial Park Society, a seven-member volunteer organization, hopes to begin building the park this summer, but the $80,000 project will be completed in stages and involve fundraising.
For $50, the public can have the name of someone who served in a conflict inscribed in a granite brick, to be included in the wall of sorrow.
The society also plans to eventually have a monumental statue in the park.
Ewing’s grandfather and great-uncle both served in the First World War.
“I went to the western front and retraced their steps and it was a life changing and inspiring experience”.