Liverpool To Honor George Harrison With A 12-Acre Memorial Garden
Words by Riley Fitzgerald
Graphic by Press
On what would have been George Harrison‘s 77th birthday (February 25), the Liverpool City Council has announced plans for a new memorial garden honoring the life and achievements of the former Beatle.
Second to music, gardening was one of Geroge Harrison’s greatest passions.
Having tended to his household garden alongside his father during childhood, Harrison would rediscover this passion overseeing the extensive grounds of his Esher home, where he would write several of his most well known Beatles songs, and later at his 36 acres Friar Park estate.
“I like the Garden” he George in one 1981 interview. “In the garden you see all the seasons come and go. Whatever you do can affect it all but at the same time, the flowers don’t answer you back. They don’t give you no trouble!”
Recognizing this and working in conjunction with George’s son Dhani Harrison and wife Olivia Harrison, the Liverpool Council has announced the garden will open in 2021.
“George was an avid gardener who found solace and joy in being in the outdoors,” Olivia shares in an official statement accompanying the announcement,” I don’t think there is any better way to commemorate him in Liverpool than with a garden which can become a place of tranquillity and reflection for everyone. I am really looking forward to watching it change and grow over the coming years.”
Still in its early stage of conception, the council has made an open call for submissions from “artists, musicians, collectives, technologists, and groups interested in creating a sculpture” for artworks to feature in the garden.
There is also plans to open a ‘nature classroom’ on the site, where schoolchildren from across the region can spend time learning about nature and the environment.
“It has been one of my ambitions as mayor to find an appropriate way for us as a city to celebrate one of our most-loved sons, so I am overjoyed that at last we can announce the George Harrison Woodland Walk,” Liverpool Mayor Joe Anderson states. “The site is beautiful, and the plans for the area in the coming months are really exciting. It feels right that at last we have a permanent memorial to celebrate George’s life, loves and influence.”
The site itself is a 12-acre wood and meadowland located in the south of Liverpool and close to Harrison’s childhood home.
Work will begin in the garden this July.
George Harrison passed away from lung cancer in 2001.
Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr have also paid tribute to their former bandmate.
“Happy Birthday my old chum,” McCartney wrote via his official Instagram. “Love Paul.”
“Happy Birthday George,” Ringo has shared, “I miss you, man. Peace and love.”
Read the Liverpool Council’s official announcement here.
