St Thomas Memorial Garden was enhanced with the intention to provide a reflective space in amongst the exciting events of Eurovision back in May 2023.
Located at a cross section of the boundaries of Liverpool ONE, the Baltic area and the docklands, once stood as St Thomas’s Church of the inner-city parish. Details of the history of St Thomas’s Church, including those buried here, can be found on a panel in the west side of these gardens.
Along with many other elements enjoyed throughout the city during the 2023 Eurovision Song Contest, this garden intends to provide a reflective space, celebrating and memorialising botanical and cultural elements of Ukraine. Plants and flowers that are significant to Ukraine, along with common types that traditionally represent themes of love, family, beauty, youth, hope, wisdom and truth, have been planted to create an inviting and peaceful space.
This garden has been planted by volunteers from the refugee community, along with the Liverpool ONE Team, with support from business partners, Liverpool ONE, resident community groups and Liverpool City Council.
Beyond Eurovision, the garden is managed as a therapeutic horticultural space by members of the local community, intending the continuation of the themes of solace and peace by the growing of flowers, herbs, ornamental plants and food.
Along with Liverpool ONE, thank you to Grosvenor and McAleer and Rushe for their kind financial support.
My Voice Matters Poetry now displayed at Thomas Memorial Gardens.
Liverpool ONE partnered with Place2Be to launch a poetry exhibition which gives visitors the chance to appreciate the creative expressions of the city’s young minds.
‘My Voice Matters’ opened on World Poetry Day (Thursday 21st March 2024), with exhibition panels at the Memorial Gardens, as well as on College Lane showcasing poems from children in years 4, 5 and 6 across the city.
Young people’s mental health charity Place2Be engaged with local schools and mental health representatives to ask children aged 8-11 to creatively express themselves through poetry by writing about topics that are important to them.
The poems were submitted through an open call which took place during Children’s Mental Health Week, 5th-11th February 2024, and focus on the theme ‘My Voice Matters’, with children expressing what mental wellbeing means to them.
Liverpool ONE have amplified the voices of the city’s children by displaying 16 of the submitted poems now displayed at St Thomas Memorial Garden, offering visitors the chance to hear from local young people about what matters to them.