Final stone placed on Cambridge temple archway saved from skip

Watching the final stone being placed on an archway that he saved from a former Hindu temple and relocated to public gardens has been a dream come true for one Cambridge businessman.

Piero D’Angelico, a hairdresser with a salon on Mill Road, has been working non-stop to save the decorative carved stones ever since he discovered they were going to be thrown in a skip by Cambridgeshire County Council.

The archway was being cleared out of the former Mill Road Library building, which for a while had been the Bhavat Bhavan temple, when Piero, whose grandfather was a stonemason, stepped in to buy the stones.

Now his hard work has finally paid off and the archway has been installed in the gardens of Ditchburn Place.

Piero said: “I’m so happy that the stones have been saved and placed in public gardens where everyone can enjoy them. We have done this all through fundraising and the goodwill of many people who donated their time and skill to help.”

Part of that fundraising was the idea to sell brass plaques around the base of the archway to everyone who donated. This has attracted donors from far and wide - including the mayor of Piero’s home town in Italy.

He said: “I’m so thrilled to be getting close to the end of this project. The plaques for the ring of legacies have been very successful. Among them, I spotted two donations from my home town, Castelluccio Valmaggiore. We have centuries of tradition of stonemasons there and my grandad, Maestro Pietro, was well known in the town so the mayor, Sir Pasquale Marchese, with the director Pasquale De Bloiso of the local Museum Valle del Celone are having plaques proudly representing us abroad with an intercultural exchange and best wishes to our community. I spoke with them and they will be attending the opening ceremony on September 1.”

There will also be a trade association from Sicily coming to the official opening as they too have donated and sent their best wishes.

Other plaques include messages from people who were born at Ditchburn Place when it was Cambridge Maternity Hospital, as well as from businesses past and present along Mill Road, politicians, religious groups and people with fond memories of the gardens.

“There is one that says ‘I proposed to my wife here’. That’s my favourite,” says Piero.

Around 150 of the inscribed brass plaques have been bought and will be unveiled at the opening ceremony on September 1, but some are still available for anyone who wants to make a donation. Visit https://www.cambridgegatewayfromindia.co.uk/