A PROMOTIONAL video has been made ahead of a special garden being created at the heart of Polson Park.

Dementia Friendly Tranent has been working on plans for the Garden of Reflection for the last four years. It was hoped that work on the new garden, to the west of bandstand, would have got under way earlier this year.

However, the coronavirus pandemic meant the work has been temporarily put on hold.

Paula Waugh, an office bearer with Dementia Friendly Tranent, was disappointed to see the work halted.

She said: “We were due to break ground the week that lockdown happened. Everything had been delivered to the park.”

It is anticipated that the garden will cost about £100,000, with some funding already secured from groups including the Fa’side Area Partnership and the Rotary Club of Tranent.

The seven-and-a-half minute video outlines the plans for the garden, which would be split into three sections: community area, memory area and sensory area.

The video highlights: “The purpose of this garden is to bring the Tranent community together to celebrate something great about our town. We want to encourage people to come to Polson Park, to meet new people from all walks of life and to stop people feeling isolated and alone.”

The entrance to the garden will be through an archway.

The community area will have various heritage features, including a large stone with a design of the Tranent Tower inscribed, as well as a mining sculpture with historical facts about the mines in and around the town.

A tree design, called the tree of life, will be built into the wall.

Mrs Waugh said artists had already been commissioned to make the sculptures.

Meanwhile, the sensory garden will feature plants to awaken the senses of people living with conditions such as dementia.

Finally, the memory garden, proposed by Mrs Waugh, will act as a place to go to remember loved ones.

Councillor Colin McGinn, who lives in the town, described himself as “a big supporter” of the project.

He said: “I used to go the Western General Hospital quite a lot and [cancer support charity] Maggie’s has a garden of reflection.

“I found it a wonderful place to just be lost in your own thoughts for a while.”

Donations can be made via email to gardenofreflectiondft@gmail.com