Are You Sitting Comfortably...?

There was once a bench in a little village called Sandgate. It was quite old, and had seen better days, and was pretty hidden up a short steep, side street in the village but, no matter, there the bench was.

No-one was really sure when the bench had been put there, or why. What they were sure of was that it had a plaque on it in memory of Dora Hamilton (1905-1989) who had spent her childhood in Sandgate. It had clearly been placed with thought and love.

As the bench got older and older, it got more and more broken, and looked more than a little sad. The more broken it got, the more chance the bench would be taken away, and the bench, and memory of Dora, lost forever.

Then one day, in a meeting of the local Council, a Councillor called Tim happened to mention the bench, how sad it looked and how nice it would be to fix or replace the bench.

All the other Councillors agreed, and, as luck would have it, the Council had been left a small bequest by another local couple, John and Ann Nevill, to be spent on things to improve the village. Although some of that bequest had already bought planters near the Village War Memorial, there was enough money left over for a new bench.

And so, early in 2016, the old, broken bench in Wilberforce Road, Sandgate was replaced by a shiny new bench. Both the plaque in memory of Dora from the original bench, and a new plaque marking the bequest of John and Ann, were put on the bench.

And that's why the people of Sandgate now have a new bench in Wilberforce Road in Sandgate, with two plaques on it, and somewhere to sit when they walk up that short, steep side street.