Memorial Gardens, Crawley

A different day today and certainly better weather. A colleague and I had booked a place on a seminar on changes to the pension scheme at work which was held in the Civic Hall at Crawley in the afternoon.

As my route from the car park passed through the Memorial Gardens, this seemed a good subject for today. This area of land was originally given to the people of Crawley and Ifield as a recreation ground in memory of all those who lost their lives in the First World War. When Crawley was designated a New Town in 1946, this was eventually turned into a park and gardens. The standards kept by the Borough Council's Parks Department are extremely high, and both this park and the Parks Department have won many awards for their work and high standard. Crawley retains a great deal of open space and greenery throughout the Borough area all of which has been well looked after and enhanced, together with a number of nature reserves and larger parks. The eminent architectural historian and critic (and he was very critical!!), Sir Nikolaus Pevsner who wrote many of "The Buildings Of England" series of books said of Crawley that it was the leafiest of the New Towns. I am sure that both residents and visitors cannot fail to agree with this view even in early January.