Young residents pay tribute to Lee Rigby with memorial rose garden

Rochdale Youth Service members join veterans to plant memorial rose garden Back (L-R): Maurice Tinant, Carol Knight, Ron Aitken, Arthur Warhurst and Warren O'Brien. Front (L-R): Mushtaq Ahmed, Chris Riley, Dominic Chatburn, Donna Gee, Aiden Seville, Deborah Chatburn, Sarah Charlesworth, Ryan Seville and Jill Amos

Members of Rochdale Youth Service have paid tribute to the memory of Lee Rigby by planting rose bushes in the colours of the Royal Regiment of Fusiliers at Middleton Memorial Gardens.

The red and white roses were purchased and planted following a fundraising event last year, where young people organised and performed a talent showcase at Middleton Arena, raising £525 in memory of the Fusilier.

The rose bushes also contain a small plaque commemorated to the fallen soldier on behalf of Rochdale Youth Service and were unveiled along with a bronze memorial at a ceremony on Sunday 29 March.

The roses were planted by members of the Youth Service’s Disability Youth Forum: Aiden Seville, Donna Gee, Deborah Chatburn, Chris Riley, Sarah Charlesworth, Dominic Charlesworth and Ryan Seville, overseen by youth workers Jill Amos and Mushtaq Ahmed.

Present at the planting were World War Two veterans Maurice Tinant of the Royal Tank Regiment and Arthur Warhurst of the Royal Artillery, as well as Carol Knight of the Women’s Royal Army Corps, Warren O’Brien of the Royal Artillery and Ron Aitken of the Lancashire Fusiliers, which was later amalgamated to become the Royal Regiment of Fusiliers.

Maurice Tinant from Alkrington, who served with the Desert Rats in the battles of El Alamein in North Africa, said: “It’s great to see young people getting involved and it’s a jolly nice gesture to Fusilier Rigby.”

Sandra Bowness, Assistant Director, Early Help and Schools at Rochdale Borough Council, said: “This entire project has been driven by young people, from raising the money to deciding what they wanted to do with it and the planting itself. Lee’s death affected everyone in the borough and in Middleton especially; I think the rose garden is an especially moving way for our young people to keep his memory alive.”