WORK on a popular Worcester park’s £803,500 refurbishment is due to begin soon, to the delight of local people.

The contract for new iron railings surrounding part of Gheluvelt Park, Barbourne, is due to be signed, with replacement work starting “within weeks”, according to Ian Yates, the parks anc cemeteries manager at Worcester City Council.

The move follows a successful bid to the Heritage Lottery Fund and Big Lottery Fund for a refurbishment of the children’s play area, restoration of the existing bandstand, new planting and a new £33,000 Battle of Gheluvelt education sculpture.

Friends of Gheluvelt Park chairman Allen Barnatt said: “It’s great news. It’s the result of a lot of work by a lot of people including the friends group and the city council.

“We’ve been working for this for the past three or four years. The big thing is the new children’s play area and swimming area, which will improve the park.”

He said the new First World War sculpture, aimed at educating park visitors about the Battle of Gheluvelt involving the 2nd Battalion Worcestershire Regiment in 1914, was also a welcome addition.

Colin Burden, of Plincke Landscapes, is project leader on the sculpture, which will be part memorial and part teaching aid, showing the the sacrifice by British forces during the conflict.

The park is the most popular one in the city, attracting about 45,000 people each year.

Mr Burden said: “It’s a very important project but then what could be more appropriate as a memorial than the peace and quiet for contemplation provided by a park.”

Mr Burden said the sculpture’s core design was a single object shattering into five pieces, one representing the battle and the others each year of the war.

Visitors will be able to see the scale of the casualties throughout the course of the war by means of geometric shapes cut into the steel pieces.

For the battle itself the names of those British soldiers killed will be engraved on the separate piece of steel, while a panel will explain the memorial’s meaning. Teaching packs will also be available to schools.

The sculpture will be built from the same ‘corten’ steel used to build the Angel of The North in Gateshead. It contains copper and weathers to a distinctive reddish-brown colour.

Work on the sculpture is due to start at Easter 2009.