A GARDEN of Remembrance is to be created in honour of war poet Wilfred Owen.
The infantryman gave a voice to his fellow soldiers and wrote a number of poems during his stay at Edinburgh’s Craiglockhart Hospital.
The garden, which is the brainchild of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC), the Wilfred Owen Association, and Glen Art, a veterans’ charity based in East Dunbartonshire, will be unveiled on Friday at a Gardening Scotland event at the Royal Highland Centre.
Featuring a specially commissioned bust of Owen, created by the award-winning sculptor Anthony Padgett, the One Hundred Years of Remembrance garden has been described as a fitting way of marking the English poet’s time in Edinburgh.
Serving at the front in the First World War, Owen was diagnosed with shell shock – now referred to as post traumatic stress disorder.
During his treatment, he met fellow war poet Siegfried Sassoon, who would play a key role in encouraging him to document his experiences.
The garden, which will also commemorate the centenary of the CWGC, is being created by veterans with post traumatic stress disorder.
A spokesman for the Wilfred Owen Association said: “The association is delighted to have an opportunity to commemorate Owen’s time in Edinburgh, where he was sent to recover from shell shock in 1917.“It’s particularly apt that the garden is being created by current veterans who are also coping with shell shock, known today as post traumatic stress disorder.”
After his time in Edinburgh, Owen, 25, returned to France, where he was killed on November 4, 1918 – a and a week before the Armistice was signed.
The garden will be unveiled this Friday at a Gardening Scotland event at the Royal Highland Centre.
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