Bench or Headstone

Direne, my cousin's wicker coffin looked beautiful with bright flowers tucked in. I noticed no creaking but had there been any sound it wouldn't have detracted from a simple ceremony to say goodbye to a beloved lady from her family and friends.
There's a small public garden in London with several much used wooden seats remembering local people who 'loved this place'. What a strange view of the world to find them 'mawkish'. They're put there so that others might also enjoy the flowers and watch the children play!
Grummpa - I shall look out for that one when I'm next at Kew, it has already made me smile.

Garnet - what a lovely tribute to your son. And what a pity that some university official can't appreciate the difference between a bench and a paving stone. A thoughtless 'improvement' to the university grounds with no regard for the reason for the bench being put there.
I have a tear in my eye when I pass by where a teenager died as she enjoyed summer sunshine in a city square. There was already an Eternal Flame nearby. The city council saw fit to remove the flame but I'm sure many will remember the young woman and regret that the the flame was far from eternal.

My Partner and I have already sorted this out.
We both fell in love with Canvey Island in Essex a couple of years ago when we first visited. We noticed that there were lots of benches along the seafront with memorials on them.
To cut a long story short, we both decided why wait?
Last Xmas, as a joint present to each other, we bought a bench on Canvey Island seafront. It has a brass plaque that says " Sit awhile and enjoy the view".
We love visiting our bench, and wondering how many people have read the plaque, sat down to rest their legs and enjoyed watching the world go by.

Bench and ashes on top of Ashdown Forest overlooking family home at the bottom of the valley. Where I walked with DCs and now withDGCs on so many days, and where I wasa Ranger for a few years.

Thankyou Teetime for starting this and to everybody who has contributed positively. It’s been lovely to hear everybody’s ideas.

Cookie. I shall look for your bench. small world..

a quote on a bench in Morecambe Nr Lancaster has the names and underneath reads...

" Its not to the road we travel in life"

" It's who walks beside us, that makes the difference"

I have borrowed this quote...

I printed a Sunflower and placed the quote on top...

That's lovely, bikergran!

I looked into getting a memorial bench for my parents in Worthing,however, it was so expensive and I am living in Scotland and will probably never even sit on it. I decided to get a memorial bench of my own in my garden. I hope to get the first names carved into it of all my close deceased relatives.
Hopefully my children will put my name on it when I die and put it in one of their Gardens.

Ours are only about 250 pounds I think. I was surprised, and they are kept in pristine condition too. A tree was about 3 times as much.

we are the only relatives to be in touch so far.
Perhaps no-one else has realised garnet

I think that is terrible - at least they should contact relatives and find out their views on what they intend to do.
I hope you can reach some compromise with them, in fact I hope you can get the benches re-installed as they are part of the history of the university.

Re-landscaping - tosh!

tyou MissA Sunflowers are poignant to me, as my late dh eyesight was diminishing and Sunflowers were so bold and bright he could see them

Thank you Teetime for starting this thread - and perhaps a reminder that we should add a 'list of wishes' to our wills.

I'm all touched, now, biker.

I also have his ashes in a cylinder with fields of sunflowers printed on and a sunset in the distance....

You're not feeling very happy today, are you radicalnan

I hope you feel better tomorrow

Anyone thinking of getting a tree, they are a reasonable price in the Woodland Trust.

£15 for a single tree, £250 for a quarter acre of woodland.

www.woodlandtrustshop.com/category/106-dedications.aspx

Other sizes are available.

I think benches are a lovely memorial so useful for everyone to use, but each to our own, what ever we choose..and if it makes us or those left behind happy with the choice ..then

Thank you, Jen. Exactly what has been on my mind to check out. I wasn't sure where or how to start.

It`s already been decided that my children will take my ashes to be scattered into the sea at Muasdale, in Kintyre, so that I can join my husband there. I don`t think it would be allowed, but a bench overlooking the beach and sea there would be nice, there aren`t any at the moment, but it is a very small caravan and campsite, so maybe they wouldn`t like it.

Thanks for that info Jen, I’m going to look into that.

A bench with a plaque would me so much more useful for everyone.

Trees can mark the arrival of a grandchild too - mine have a tree each with a certificate.