Sponsored by
Winning Ways - September 21
I don't know if you notice benches as you walk or flash by in your car. When you sit down for a rest do you check to see if there is a dedication?
Did this bench mean something really special to someone once? They just seem to be there, benches, don't they? Even the word is funny if you say it over and over as I am now to myself. Bench.
There are park benches and school benches. There are church benches and kitchen benches. There are wooden benches, plastic benches and iron benches. There are wood and iron benches, and the wood rots but the iron lasts for ever. Golf courses are peppered with benches.
The benches are situated in perfect places for a little sit down, or because there is just a wonderful view or because the person who donated the bench, or who is remembered by the bench, just loved that place.
Memorial benches - that is my topic this week. We are thinking hard about a memorial bench here at The Burn this week because Professor Al Brown, who came here for years with parties of Medieval History Students, and loved this place well beyond the times he came on duty, has not long died.
He left a legacy to be spent at The Burn and a beautiful hardwearing, long lasting bench will be bought, and have his name on it for a very long time. His son brought him here to visit just two weeks before he died, and he told us that his dad started to get excited as the hills of Angus rolled into view. Such is the effect of fond memories.
We have lots of benches already at the Burn, but there is rarely a time when there is not someone sitting on them. A few years ago rough hewn benches were introduced on the Blue Door river walk, and it is a delight to see people eating their picnics in the sunshine, or hooded and booted in the rain.
There was one bench which was my particular favourite. It was an old church pew bought from a convent, that was closing. Some fishing chums situated it at the salmon leap for their friend Arnold Ball. Arnold loved to fish the waters of the North Esk. I loved that bench. It had kneelers, which didn't come down anymore, and it had three separate seats with hinges. That bench was full of prayers. You only had to sit on it to feel the power of all those prayers. Believe me - it was special.
Once it was in place on the river walk, great conversations took place on it, great meals were eaten and great thoughts were thought. Sadly it was not an outside bench. It rotted away in lumps, and finally just gave way to the elements as most soft indoor wood would eventually. Now there is a new bench in place. Arnold Ball is still remembered on it of course, but the new bench doesn't have quite the gravitas of the old prayer bench. It will have to wait its time. Eventually it will absorb the laughter and the chat that only much usage can give it.
Another set of benches have been donated by a staff member at the Burn in memory of his parents. I know he sits there and recalls his happy times. Our own garden bench has our father's name on it. We think of him every time we use it. We know that he would have loved it. Our well remembered and much admired late groundsman has a bench specially made for him, in gratitude for all the great service he gave. Until I started this article I never really gave this matter much thought, but now I realise how significant these simple things are.
In the centre of Manhattan just outside Wall Street, there is a bronze bench with a man with a brief case sitting on it. We all had our pictures taken on it when we visited New York, a short time before 9/11. I saw it on TV the other day during the programmes about 9/11 - covered in dust and rubble, but still standing. There is another similar one in the centre of Galway with statues of Oscar Wilde and W. B. Yeats having an imaginary conversation.
So I do think benches are great. Let's all have a bench. Stop running around chasing our tails. Next time you see a bench, don't pass by, sit down and think of someone who you would love to be sharing the moment with. It'll do you good and warm up the bench!
- Jo Middlemiss is a Personal Life Coach. She lives in Edzell and can be contacted on (01356) 648 329.
Email to a friend
Print this page
Looking for...
Featured advertisers
Jobs
Search for a job
Motors
Search for a car
Property
Search for a house
Weather for Brechin
Friday 25 May 2012
Today
Sunny
Temperature: 10 C to 14 C
Wind Speed: 8 mph
Wind direction: East
Tomorrow
Sunny
Temperature: 8 C to 15 C
Wind Speed: 12 mph
Wind direction: East
