OLIVIA WINS HER BATTLE OVER MEMORIAL FOR GEORGE
Olivia has won her battle for a permanent memorial to the former Beatle not to
be located too close to the couple's Oxfordshire mansion. Olivia has
agreed to help design and pay for an alternative memorial further away.
After months of deliberation, Councillors have agreed that an existing park in
Henley-on-Thames will be re-designed and re-named the George Harrison Garden,
rather than building one opposite Harrison's home, Friar Park.
The decision, it seems, was
largely down to Olivia's objections - she didn't want her home to become a place
of pilgrimage for Beatles fans. "We received a letter from
Olivia Harrison expressing concern about having a garden opposite Friar
Park" says town Councillor Jonathan Barter. "I sympathise with
her concern that it would become a place of pilgrimage. The point she made is
that she did not wish to be reminded of George's absence. When we have
such a memorial it does tend to have the air of a crematorium. George's
last wish was for peace." The decision to rename the Red Lion lawn as
the George Harrison Garden comes after heated rows over the location of a
memorial in the royal regatta town.