Luton Reporter Friday 14/3/1922 reported: 'LADY LUDLOW'S MEMORIAL IN THE NEW PARK. Lady Ludlow is proposing to erect in the Luton Hoo Memorial Park, presented to Luton a memorial bearing the appended inscription: "Luton Hoo Memorial Park. The site of this Park was presented to the borough of Luton by Lady Wernher, Lady of the Manor of Luton, in commemoration of the great victory of the Allies and as a memorial to her son, Alexander Pigott Wernher'', 1st Welsh Guards, killed in action 1916, and to all the other gallant men of Luton who gave their lives for their country in the Great War, 1914 to 1918. Erected 1922." The design, inscription, and proposed site of the memorial have been approved by the Parks Committee. It was reported to the Town Council on Tuesday that approximately £3,000 has been expended to date on work in connection with the memorial park Designs for a glass-house, games pavilion, lodge, shelter and tearoom have been approved by the Parks Committee, and tenders are being invited, and the Borough Engineer has been empowered to purchase further turf for the greens.' https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0002208/19220314/034/0002

Luton Reporter Friday 16/2/1923 reported: 'HOO PARK ENTRANCES. It is expected that the Luton Hoo memorial park, the site of which was presented to the borough by Lady Ludlow, will be ready for opening about the beginning of May. There has been some delay in regard to the construction of the two entrance ways from Tennyson-road. owing to the necessity for the completion of arrangements with the owners of adjoining land, but conferences held by the chairmen of the Highways and Parks Committees, the Town Clerk and Borough Engineer, with representatives of the interested parties has resulted in the arrival at arrangements which are considered equitable to both the owners and the Corporation. The total cost to the Corporation is estimated to be £830. The Corporation is to construct a road from Tennyson road to the south entrance of the park,a length of 6½ yards, at an estimated cost of £220, and the owners of the land concerned are to abandon the remainder of the proposed 36ft road to Trapp's Lane, and relinquish their rights in regard to it. The Corporation is also to lay out and complete to the usual standard the continuation of West Hill road from Tennyson road to the south entrance and declare the road a public highway. The cost is estimated at £1,139 7s. 6d, and the Corporation will contribute £610 and the other frontages the balance'. https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0002208/19230216/073/0004

The Luton Reporter Friday 11/5/1923 reported that the Memorial Park would open to the public the following day. The report mentioned that, due to the recent bereavement of Lady Ludlow, the obelisk would not be formally 'unveiled' during that event. https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0002208/19230511/056/0003

Luton Reporter Friday 15/6/1923 reported: 'Lady Ludlow has returned to Luton Hoo and makes her first local public appearance since her sojourn abroad on Monday, when she resumed her seat on the bench at the Luton Division sessions. Her ladyship appeared to be in the brightest of health and spirits. and, as is her accustomed wont, displayed the keenest and liveliest interest in the proceedings from beginning to end. Her ladyship was still in mourning attire, and the fact recalls that her last public appearance before going abroad was for the performance of the honoured, but to her peculiarly distressing, privilege of unveiling the Luton war memorial last December. This ordeal, it may be remembered. she submitted to from a strict sense of duty to the bereaved mothers of the town, despite medical warnings with respect to the state of her health. Remembering the severe strain this imposed upon the Lady of the Manor, it is not surprising that she herself should have suggested avoidance of the repetition which would necessarily have been associated with a formal unveiling of the memorial obelisk erected in the Luton Hoo Memorial Park. The general public will, we feel sure, heartily endorse the Corporation's thoughtfulness in acceding to Lady Ludlow's request that there should be no formal opening of the new Park'. https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0002208/19230615/027/0002

Information re the history of the Memorial Park can be found on the following website. (N.B. The website states that Lady Ludlow unveiled the memorial within the Park on 10/12/1922. However, according to the report on page 2 of the Beds and Herts Pictorial on Tuesday 12 December, the memorial that she unveiled on the 10th was actually the one outside Luton Town Hall, rather than the one in Luton Hoo Memorial Park). 1922https://m.luton.gov.uk/Page/Show/Leisure_and_culture/Parks_and_recreation/Parks and Open Spaces/Pages/History of The Memorial Park.aspx

Luton Hoo Memorial Park was Grade II listed by Historic England on 23/9/2020, see https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1471705?section=official-listing