Flanders Field Memorial Garden set to open in London

Next Saturday is the official inauguration of the new Flanders Field Memorial Garden. The ceremony will begin on Friday with the arrival of a Belgian naval frigate in London carrying 70 sandbags filled with soil gathered from First World War military cemeteries in Belgium.

The sandbags will be transported on a military gun carriage through the streets of central London on Saturday to their final destination near Wellington Barracks. The soil will then be deposited in a the memorial garden, designed by Bruges landscape architect Piet Blanckaert and intended, according to the Flemish government, to serve as a “lasting memorial of hope, peace and international solidarity”.