Coventry Young Ambassadors Islands of Peace Garden, Coventry War Memorial Park. Free and open all year.
From Idea to Reality
The building of the Coventry Young Ambassadors Japanese Peace Garden, Islands of Peace, is the culmination and legacy of the Coventry Cities of Peace Schools Projects (Peace Project 3). It is now a permanent Japanese Peace Garden located in the City of Coventry at the War Memorial Park for the people of Coventry and its many national and international visitors. The garden is based on the inspiration and ideas from the Coventry Young Ambassadors’ initially working with Between the Stones’ author, Jannette Cheong.
Jannette invited the Japanese Garden Society (JGS) to help realise the project. Graham Hardman, Honorary Vice President and former Chairman of the Society responded initially and brought in renowned garden designer, Robert Ketchell to lead the design work. Following the children’s work, a permanent site for the garden was found at the War Memorial Park by the Coventry co-ordinator, Rebecca Bollands. This is the largest civic park in the centre of Coventry. Expert help was offered by the Japanese Garden Society based on their experience of building gardens in public places elsewhere in the UK.
The resulting garden - Islands of Peace - is based on the children’s ideas. The children were shown a concept plan for the proposed garden produced by Robert Ketchell of the Japanese Garden Society.
The children could see that it included their most important ideas. Firstly, the garden can be seen to represent the Earth. The granite gravel symbolises the fact that over 70% of the planet’s surface is water, mostly in our oceans and seas. The idea of seven continents is respresented by seven islands in the garden: five as individual rocks and two larger islands with some planting – symbolic of the scarcity of natural resources. These two larger islands are connected with a two-part bridge, expressing the need for people to reach out to forge links of peace and reconciliation with others. The children felt that the broken bridge represents the fragile nature of our relationship with the planet and how peace is fragile and not always easy to achieve, and that there can be obstacles that must be overcome.
The children thought that the islands can represent different things to different visitors. It is a garden for contemplation. For example, the children also felt that the two larger islands could also represent Coventry and Hiroshima, or, indeed, even two individuals who needed to make peace and reconcile their differences.
Pupils engage with the construction of the garden
Throughout the building of the garden the children visited the site as often as possible and observed how the skilful aspects of the construction were undertaken by experts. They learned about some of the key aspects of the garden build and were allowed to participate in a number of key processes thanks to the careful supervision of the experts from Eurovia, Chiel Construction, and the Japanese Garden Society’s volunteers who gave generously of their time. In this way, the children could learn about the garden’s development throughout the building phases and gain a sense of the world of work and how ideas are turned into reality.
You can follow the building of the garden through the Garden Updates which follow.
Supporting the construction of the Coventry Young Ambassadors Islands of Peace Japanese Garden
The project has been realised by Rebecca Bollands, Deputy Head of one of the schools involved, working with Graham Hardman on behalf of JGS and Robert Ketchell who designed the garden using the children’s ideas and inspiration.
The building of the garden has involved the local community, Coventry City Council, the Coventry schools and construction workers from sponsoring companies, supported by volunteers from the War Memorial Park and members of the Japanese Garden Society led by Graham and Robert. The building of the garden would not have been possible without the support of many sponsors brought to the project by Rebecca, Graham and Jannette.
The following people and organisations have given generously of their time, energy, commitment and resources to the building of the Coventry Japanese Peace Garden.
We are deeply grateful for their vision and support to help us give the people who live in Coventry, and our many visitors from the UK and around the world - this beautiful gift of a Japanese Peace Garden symbolising our vision and hope for the ‘Islands of Peace’ we would all like to leave as our legacy for the future.
Organisations/Institutions
Between the Stones Project
Builders Supply Stores
Chiel Construction ltd
Crown Waste
Coventry Primary Schools
Coventry City Council
Eurovia
Finnis Scott Foundation
Friends of the War Memorial Park
Great Britain Sasakawa Foundation
Hansons Concrete
Japanese Garden Society
Japan Society
London Digital Print
Mayor of Coventry’s Peace Committee
Mitsubishi Corporation, Corporate Management Support Office (EMEA)
National Lottery Awards for All
Niwaki
Sakai Kuwahara Moving Service UK
Severn Trent Community Fund
Stanley Smith (UK) Horticultural Trust
Individuals
Rebecca Bollands
Margaret Caistor
Jannette Cheong
Sheila Christie
Katie Croft
Graham Hardman
Henrietta Heald
Robert Ketchell
Graham Marchant
Maurice and Linda Mealing
Heidi Potter
Coventry has inspired UNESCO Associated Schools Network in the UK and Japan to spearhead a pilot project to extend these projects under the heading: UNESCO Associated Schools Network Cities of Peace Schools Projects.