A MEMORIAL garden for three women dedicated to the Blackbird Leys estate will begin taking shape this month.
Work to dig and clear the ground on a section of the park off Pegasus Road is due to begin in the middle of October before trees, flowers and shrubs are planted.
The garden will honour Val Smith, Barbara Gatehouse and Carole Roberts, three former Labour councillors who all represented parts of the Leys at some stage and also all served as Lord Mayor of Oxford.
The idea for the garden initially came from Blackbird Leys Parish Council chairman Gordon Roper and is now being supported by the city council.
He said: "We are trying to get it done by half term, weather permitting. I would just like to get things moving now; it takes a long time."
Three hand-crafted wooden benches from reclaimed timber are currently being built at the nearby Pathway workshop in Dunnock Way.
Words for their inscriptions have now been decided on by the parish council but are being kept under wraps until they have been approved by the councillors' relatives.
Mrs Smith, the wife of Andrew Smith MP described as "Mrs Blackbird Leys", died in May 2015. Mrs Roberts passed away in August and Mrs Gatehouse died in January this year.
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