The Evaders Garden by Chorley Council
John Everiss, the son of Stan Everiss (who was a Burgundy Line evader) has been awarded a Silver medal at the Chelsea Flower show. Stan Everiss, the designers father was an RAF evader who was helped to regain his freedom by ordinary French citizens after he was shot down in 1943. Inspired by these acts of selfless bravery, the garden’s design reflects the bond between helper and evader.
The ‘Evaders Garden’ shows an airman who has just parachuted from his aircraft, his ghostly image shelters briefly in an old abandoned church with his parachute trailed out before him. His eyes look up to a stained glass window where two young French people are reaching out to help him; people who could help him but would later pay with their lives. The wall also has a code poem engraved into a tablet. Mass planting surrounds the sculpture as nature reclaims the abandoned church.
After the show the garden will be installed permanently in Astley Park in Chorley, Lancashire.