More than 200 people attended a very special event in the park on 27th October 2013. A stone memorial to the more than 20,000 people who were repatriated to Southampton from the Far East in November 1945 was unveiled. Several veterans were present together with many family members of those who are part of the Far East Prisoners of War (FEPOW)
Also present were the mayor of Southampton and General Balfour Deputy Lieutenant of Hampshire and the Leader of Southampton City Council, Simon Letts. The unveiling followed a service of Dedication in St Michaels Church in Bugle Street.
The congregation processed from the church to the park with a group of service cadets acting as stewards and a piper providing some very evocative music.
Afterwards refreshments were provided by FTQP members and St Michaels for the guests who were able to reminisce about their family memories.
To complement the commemorative stone the beds adjacent to it have been fully cleared and replanted with bamboos and grasses to evoke a sense of the far East from where the ships were bringing the people home.