Cheltenham has a rich heritage, with elegant Regency buildings, spas, fascinating public art and notable connections; it is certainly worth a visit. The Imperial Gardens, behind the Edwardian Town Hall, is one of Cheltenham’s many lovely green spaces and is where the statue to Gustav Holst can be found. We visited in spring a couple of years ago, during the Light Up Cheltenham festival. For a few weeks some of the beautiful buildings are bathed in coloured lights giving them a whole new look. The big wheel in the gardens was, I think, a temporary attraction. The Imperial Gardens has formal colourful flower beds and trees and is surrounded by some handsome buildings.
There are many benches around The Imperial Gardens but this one caught my eye during our trip. My interest is always stirred by a bench that mentions someone’s former working life and I was always going to include Colin Vernon Powell the jeweller in this blog.
Searching for Colin Vernon Powell on the internet was a mostly frustrating experience. The searches revealed pages of results for Colin Luther Powell, the United States Secretary of State from 2001 to 2005 and an American politician, diplomat and retired four-star general.
I have been unable to track down any sign of Powell’s Jewellers in Cheltenham today but my searches do suggest that Colin Powell Ltd was a jewellers on the Promenade in Cheltenham at one time. I like to imagine this was the right place for Colin Vernon Powell to be based. The Promenade is certainly a fitting location for a highly respected jeweller, true friend and gentleman. The Imperial Gardens is just off the Promenade which is in the centre of Cheltenham and is a chic shopping street that was first developed in 1818 when the trees were planted on what was a boggy track. It eventually became the place to be seen and is now a well preserved and attractive shopping area. Today there are a number of jewellers that continue to trade from this street and some of them have a long association with this place.
REMEMBERING COLIN VERNON POWELL
1931 – 2001
A TRUE FRIEND & GENTLEMAN.
***
FOR MORE THAN 40 YEARS COLIN WAS A HIGHLY RESPECTED JEWELLER IN THIS TOWN.
Memorial benches & the stories of the people they commemorate 
What a wonderful idea to try and find out more about the lives of people memorialised on park benches. I have probably seen thousands of benches like these during my travels. Indeed I often take a moment to think about what kind of people they were and what kind of lives they led.
Thank you and this is exactly why I started this blog. I think that a bench is a practical and honourable way to have a memorial to someone.
Colin was a genuinely lovely man. I knew him and his wife through the jewellery trade. I think he would have found it amusing that you were blogging about his bench now but would have been equally charmed!
Thank you for taking the time to comment, it is much appreciated. I like the idea that he would have been amused and charmed by my blog post.