Liverpool park set to become Psalm 23-themed

A community in Liverpool is set to turn a six-acre public park into a Psalm 23-themed area, with the help of top designer Sarah Eberle. 

Sarah Eberle’s Psalm 23 Garden, sponsored by Bible Society, was exhibited at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show in 2021 and has inspired this park, along with more than 20 other gardens that have been created round the country since the Show. 

Bright Park lies opposite Ken Dodd’s house in the Knotty Ash area of Liverpool. 

The six-acre park is currently overseen by Liverpool Lighthouse. Dr Tani Omideyi, chairman of Liverpool Lighthouse, said, ‘During Covid the community wanted the park to be opened up for their wellbeing.

‘I hope that people will feel whole and be able to breathe when they are here. Psalm 23 is a part of that, because it brings a sense of wholeness. The psalm is like an embrace.’ 

Bright Park was the garden of a mansion from 1767, which became the home of the Bright family in the 1800s. 

Today it is the home of dog walkers and a regular forest school.  It is also home to a family of foxes, tawny owls, hedgehogs, squirrels, bats and badgers. 

The plan is to develop the Psalm 23 theme in the park over the coming years. 

Sarah Eberle, who is the most-decorated RHS Shows designer, said that she was delighted to take up the challenge. 

‘I’m very excited,’ she said. ‘The park has a real sense of peace. It has lots of potential.’ The park, she said, would ‘build a relationship between local people and their landscape.’ 

Alfie-Jean Levene, a trustee of Liverpool Lighthouse has Psalm 23 tattooed on her wrist. She said, ‘I hope that people are able to connect with the Psalm, to know that they are not alone, that there is a God that cares for them and brings them peace.’

Sarah Eberle’s Psalm 23 Garden, sponsored by Bible Society, was exhibited at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show in 2021 and has inspired this park, along with more than 20 other gardens that have been created round the country since the Show. 

Bible Society’s spokesman, Mark Woods, said, ‘We are delighted that Bright Park will become an even greater place of peace and contemplation, through its use of Psalm 23.’