IN November this year, the community of Howle Hill transformed a neglected and overgrown site, next to the bus stop, into a new Memorial Garden, honouring brave residents who lost their lives fighting for their country.

But the committee behind the project believe that an additional £3,000 is needed to complete the memorial garden.

Funding is needed for two information boards, one which focuses on the war memorial and the other on the history of Howle Hill, the purchase of two benches, which have concrete bases in place, and obtaining two water butts to the bus shelter to enabling the watering of plants.

As part of the plan, the present war memorial stone will be placed in the centre of the memorial garden, once planning permission for a listed monument to be moved, which will be maintained by local residents.

Howle Hill no longer has a public space, pub, post office or church, so the garden will be used to hold social gatherings by residents from the village and those from local hamlets and be enjoyed by future generations.

It will be a place for others to remember friends and neighbours who have passed away.

The memorial garden also provides a much needed a picnic area for visitors and tourists to enjoy, and a safe space for them to explore the outstanding natural beauty of the Wye Valley.

Families who have moved away from the hamlet, but have a deep connection to the local area, can park their vehicles safely and go walking the narrow lanes - reminiscing where past generations used to live and work.

During the consultation process to design and construct the memorial garden items of local history were unearthed.

This included the family of a long-term resident who recently died donating the project with a book of old photographs depicting village life 100 years ago.

And during an open day in the summer, a number of other photographs of the area’s lime kilns were submitted along with addition information about the servicemen named on the village’s war memorial.

Local historian Mary Sinclair-Powell also supplied the project with many photographs and documents including a transcription of a recording of an interview carried out by Joyce Manwaring, former resident of Wenslow Cottage, with Mrs Joyce Roberts, former church warden at St. John's church, Howle Hill, in December 1997.

In the days before she died in August this year, Shelia Walshaw, who had undertaken the task of researching the lives of all the men named on the Howle Hill War Memorial handed over her notes, photographs and other valuable archive material.to the committee behind the memorial garden.

The project to bring a neglected area of land into community use began in 2017 and was brought up to its current level of completion in time for this year’s Remembrance Sunday commemorations.

The Howle Hill Memorial Garden Project is operated under the aegis of Walford Parish Council with funding from the National Lottery Community Fund.

To donate, visit justgiving.com and search for Howle Hill Memorial Garden.