Memorial benches

As my senior years catch up with me I quite welcome the appearance of a bench to sit and catch my breath for a few minutes. There is a memorial bench halfway between our house and the centre of the village, and when my asthma is troublesome I am very grateful for it. Though I have to admit that 67 in one place is a bit OTT!

If a bench (or a few benches) already exist at a beauty spot, could not additional memorial plaques be added to those benches? With the bench owners permission, of course. That would be an affordable option for people who could not purchase a whole bench, and would help limit the number of benches in one place.

I think we would all like to have something to be remembered by, to mark the fact that we existed. Traditionally it would be a headstone, but how much nicer would be a comfortable seat in a pretty spot with a small brass plaque, knowing that people will visit, sit and read your name, not with a sense of sadness because they are in a churchyard but with pleasure and happiness at what they see around them.

I particularly like reading the brass plaques that are on many seaside piers. Some are memorials, but others are to commemorate a wedding, anniversary, birth or retirement, and a lot of them are very funny.

I love them. I can imagine someone sitting on them and then admiring view.
In southwold suffolk, the pier has little brass names plates along the wooden balconey. Memories of a lovely holiday or of people who have passed away and sat on the pier, nice touch.

There was a memorial bench in the village which had started to rot and deteriorate to the extent that it was dangerous to sit on it. The family who originally paid for the bench paid again for a replacement. Not sure if the council asked them or if it was their idea though.

Love it Dumpling

I’m sure there’s a pun in there somewhere!

Last year we spent a while at Birmingham Botanical Gardens with SiL looking for her mother's bench because they move them around a lot! She was so pleased when we found it as she lives abroad and was happy to see her mother still remembered in this way. It’s a harmless and useful memorial and brings comfort IMHO

I appreciate having some benches around,particularly when there’s a nice view from them, as I need to sit often, but I can understand that there can be too many.

So, if there are already benches at my favourite spot, I think I may ask for a litter bin instead and add a donation for it’s upkeep with a plaque saying “In Memory of Dumpling who loved this spot and hated litter”.

Of course there are no benches up The Three Peaks! I’m really amazed no one called me out on that one.

Surely enough of you have climbed these to know ????☝️,

I trust everyone realised I was not serious. My post was in response to another saying that so many beauty spots were ruined by memorial benches. Certainly not my experience but then perhaps placed like Whitby are more beautiful than the ones I mentioned!

Kim I can only speak for our bench but the bench was bought from the council (they only allow certain kinds) the size of the plaque was limited. It was pretty expensive and we had to pay an installation fee.

It is up to us to maintain it, which can be quite difficult as it’s well used and we’ve had to politely request sitters to move so we can oil it. Then we have to leave a notice suggesting no one uses it for 24 hours.

It is a wooden seat. I don’t know about metal ones.

Re OldMegs post about Snowdon (haven’t worked out how to copy and paste on here). If I climbed Snowdon I’d probably qualify for a bench in my name! I really don’t mind them and often wonder about the people named on them.

When I see them, they warm my heart, irrespective of how many. My advice, be glad it’s not your loved one commemorated on those you see, and relax!

We visit Whitby regularly as my mother in law is in a home near there. We regularly use the benches and in summer they are all full! I enjoy looking at the names and feel if it gives the relatives comfort what harm can it do?

Like many of you I am not bothered by the benches IF the numbers are not excessive. But roadside shrines are distracting and disturbing.

Can someone enlighten me please. Is the initial installation cost to the council the only one or is there an annual maintenance fee and, if so, what happens to the plaque/bench once this fee is unable to be paid or withdrawn?

One or two benches are fine but any more than that and they are an eyesore and ruin the view for everyone else.

Incidently, on a similar topic, I noticed that trees with ugly, obtrusive commemorative signs are also joining the visual clutter. In Langmore Gardens in the immensely beautiful Lyme Regis, newly planted trees with hideous plaques are destroying the picturesque scene.

There's a plaque on one in local park with an usual surname which I had to look up the meaning of. Not nearly enough benches in local park . I suspect that sometimes dead dogs' ashes are scattered and people tie a small ribbon to a nearby seat.

I don't mind the benches but I dislike the flowers and wreaths on them,it feels like you're sitting on someone's grave !

O I wish I had read that properly before posting. Note to self... Find glasses before posting on gransnet. ?

I don't mind the benches, although they do seem to be multiplying, as we find ourselves using them more and more these days . Like GrannyO I don't care for the ones with vases, usually containing a bunch of dead or plastic flowers, and wouldn't sit on that seat. I wouldn't want my loved one to be remembered like that, or by a bunch of flowers at the side of the road which IMO seems to commemorate the untimely death, instead of celebrating the life, of a person. I'd prefer to donate to a charity. Must find out if my OH has a favourite charity .... .

I do t have a problem with memorial benches but this. K they should be limited toocatio s where a bench might have been placed anyway. Why not allow several plaques on a bench to cut the number of benches and cist to families?

Many thanks to the relatives who fund the benches.
We can too share their favourite views whilst having a much appreciated sit down.
I always read the plaques, often with a tinge of sadness.

This one made me smile

The council certainly charge for a memorial bench and they also have to give permission... so too many is a planning decision.
It can be a lucrative form of income...

I'm very appreciative of benches. It meant that my late husband could take a walk in the park and sit down whenever he needed to. Otherwise he couldn't have walked in the park at all. I find the plaques interesting too. A lovely way to remember a dear departed. Infact I thinking of endowing one in his memory. He loved the park.