Community figures and people from different backgrounds came together to celebrate the inception of a garden created for everyone to enjoy peace.

The Watford Peace Garden was a project of the Watford Interfaith Association (WIFA) with the aim of providing a place where people of many and backgrounds could work together and all could share in the peace provided by the surroundings.

Thanks to the late Cllr Jackie Connal who was on the WIFA committee at the time, a site in Cassiobury park was made available

Park ranger Debbie Brady, the builders in the park supported by former mayor Dorothy Thornhill and many volunteers then set to work and the labyrinth, the flower beds and structure of the Peace Garden began to take shape.

Watford Observer: Mayor Peter Taylor cuts the celebration cake flanked by Harjit Singh, Chair of WIFA, and Sri Mohan, who helped to re-make the Peace Arch.Mayor Peter Taylor cuts the celebration cake flanked by Harjit Singh, Chair of WIFA, and Sri Mohan, who helped to re-make the Peace Arch.

Bella Stuart Smith, who served as a High Sheriff and met WIFA in 2012, is a garden designer and she gave the team a basic design which fulfilled the aims of the garden.

A peace garden was an innovative idea back then and she was pleased with how it has developed when she returned for the celebrations on July 9.

Harjit Singh, Chair of WIFA, welcomed everyone and thanked all the volunteers for their hard work and dedication and Jeff Bateman, Peace Garden team leader, gave a potted history of the garden.

Among those who also attended was Watford MP Dean Russell, who emphasised how helpful the Peace Garden is for mental health and the mindfulness of walking the labyrinth.

A prayer was led by Rev Tony Rindl followed by the presentation of gleaming trowels by Cllr Rabi Martins to fellow volunteers who come whenever they can in all weathers to maintain the garden.

Music was also played and the celebratory atmosphere was completed when mayor Peter Taylor cut the cake and shared it around.