Hawick remembrance garden plans take a step forward

Plans for a remembrance garden in Hawick are gathering pace, with work finally set to start on designs in the coming weeks.
Wilton Cemetery, Burnfoot Road, HawickWilton Cemetery, Burnfoot Road, Hawick
Wilton Cemetery, Burnfoot Road, Hawick

The idea to create the new garden within Wilton cemetery, was first suggested seven years ago, by members of Burnfoot Community Council.

They had previously been told there would be no scope for an additional cemetery to be built on the estate.

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And with no new plots available at Wilton, and interments being carried out across town at Wellogate Cemetery instead, they put forward the idea for a memorial garden within Wilton cemetery.

Two years later, in 2013, it was suggested the best home for the proposed garden be near the Wilton hill entrance,.

And fast forward another few years and this week’s meeting of the community council welcomed the news that an architect would be on site in the coming weeks.

Community council secretary Kay-Marie Hughes said: “We have had to jump through a lot of hoops so this has taken a long time. But we are moving in the right direction now.

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“An architect is going to do a survey of the land soon, and we have a preferred layout idea to pass on to him.”

She added that the proposals are deemed even more important to the community since the opening of the Borders Crematorium in Melrose in 2011.

The bulk of the cost, for the “low-maintenance’ garden is being met by a donation of over £11,000 by an anonymous benefactor.