A COMMUNITY is planning to erect a permanent monument to remember people who died in an asylum.

Residents living on Fairfield Park in Stotfold are in discussions with Central Bedfordshire Council and Stotfold Town Council to use a portion of 106 Agreement money earmarked for public arts to be spent on remembering people who are buried in The Garden of Remembrance, including the estimated 3,000 unnamed dead from the old asylum days at the Three Counties Hospital.

Fairfield Park and Fairfield Hall occupy the 66 hectare site of the former hospital, which closed in 1999.

Patients and workers at the hospital who died were buried in the cemetery which is located off Elliot Way.

Chairman of the Three Counties Asylum Historical Group, Richard Knight said: “The cemetery is a lasting reminder of life and death at the asylum. It is in need of some constant care and attention, I think Barrie Dack and the rest of the residence association who are involved in the memorial project need all the help and support they can get.

“Its a wonderful idea and we at the Three Counties Asylum Historical Group fully endorse the project and hope to see a lasting and respectful memorial to all the staff and patients who lived and died at the asylum in the very near future,” he added.

Secretary of Fairfield Park Residents Association, Elaine Fox said: “Fairfield Park is a glorious place to live and we share it with people who were at the hospital, and in some ways who are still with us.

“Often you see people tying flowers to trees on Mother’s Day because they may not know where their loved one was buried. So by having a memorial it would be a way of marking their passing and for relatives to go somewhere to remember them.”