Pupils help create first green Holocaust memorial in Wigan

Members of an after-school gardening club at St Wilfrid’s Catholic Primary have been working with the borough`s Holocaust Memorial Day Ambassador Jean Hensey-Reynard to produce the tribute at the top of Stubshaw Cross Park.

The garden space is being transformed under guidelines from the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) and supported by Wigan Council`s gardening services.

Mrs Hensey-Reynard has been working with class teacher Karen Thompson on a weekly basis to help the pupils learn about the specific plants associated with Remembrance and how they can use flowers to commemorate very important events.

Mrs Hensey-Reynard said: “In session three I took each pupil a yellow daffodil so we could link it to the pupils` understanding of Jews, like Anne Frank who were forced to wear yellow stars by the Nazis.

"The yellow daffodils and other such yellow flowers are often used as a way of remembering the Jews killed in the Warsaw Ghetto.

Coun Jenny Bullen is liaising with the Parks/Gardens Department to help bring about this first Green Memorial in the borough.

She said: “Mrs Hensey-Reynard first told us all about the Green Memorial Project at the HMD ceremonies in Leigh and Wigan Town Halls back in January.

"Since then planning work has been carried out and it was good to see how enthusiastic the children are to be working in their local park in the future.”

During the last month Mrs Hensey-Reynard and Mrs Thompson have been busy doing some seed planting with the pupils in the after school gardening club.

Mrs Thompson said: “I have involved our school in the RHS Gardening programme prior to this new opportunity and we are looking forward to seeing how we can further do some planting in our school garden as well as on the Community Park”.

The pupils have been looking at the sixteen flowers recommended by the RHS to use in a garden of remembrance and they have been planning what colours they would like to see in the three-tiered planter on the park.

So far pupils are very keen to see white flowers such as white roses because they represent unity, peace and love.

Also a popular choice is nasturtiums because of their bright orange colour and they had been learning that the nasturtium flower stands for victory in struggle.

Orange they thought would be a joyful colour and it would promote a sense of well-being.