Garden in memory of Olivia Pratt-Korbel opened

It was unveiled at the Knowsley Flower Show in Court Hey Park

Author: Harry BoothPublished 7th Aug 2023

A special garden in memory of Olivia Pratt-Korbel has been officially opened in Knowsley.

The ribbon was cut by Olivia's mum Cheryl Korbel in front of friends, family and supporters.

Nine-year-old Olivia was shot and killed in her own home in Dovecot last summer.

The garden was designed by schoolchildren and they will be back there from the new school term in September to look after it.

The area has a large detailed butterfly mosaic on the wall, flowers, and a bench. It is covered in Olivia's favourite colours of pink and lilac.

The space has been described as a 'work in progress', with more to follow in the coming months.

Cheryl Korbel said:

"It's been absolutely amazing, the lead up to it (opening the garden) I've been really excited to show everyone what the kids have done from the school.

"It's been going on for six to eight months or more. The gardeners, donated by Incredible Edible (Knowsley), the schools - St Margaret Mary's, Roby Park, Malvern they've all got involved.

"Over the last few months I have been here quite a lot and I will be coming a lot because the minute I walk through the gate in here, I'm just so at ease. It's so peaceful, it's really nice and I hope the kids feel the same when they come as well.

"She (Olivia) would love it."

The space in Court Hey Park was donated to Cheryl and the schools by Incredible Edible Knowsley to create this special garden.

Incredible Edible Knowsley CEO Karen Mower said:

"The kids have been amazing and worked really hard.

"It will just be brilliant for the kids to come along from September onwards and we'll be planting it up with different seasonal bulbs so throughout the year you'll have different pink and lilac flowers growing.

"The idea of this project is about community and everything is about community and coming together and the reason why it's so successful is because everybody comes together. It's just got such a community feel. It's got such a spiritual feel to it that it makes people feel relaxed.

"We've worked with schools in the past and that's how we got involved in this because we had connection with the schools and the kids love coming on site.

"It's good to be able to nurture, it's good to maybe go back to some traditional things of actually naturally growing and then doing creative projects as well, it's fun!"

"For them to be a part of something special like this, like someone's name and the memory of a person living on and it to be a permanent structure there, it's so amazing."

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