Benches at the Redcross garden

A visit to the Redcross garden in Bankside, London garnered some wonderful benches. The garden was originally built by the social reformer, Octavia Hill, to act as an outside sitting room for the needy local people but then fell into disrepair for many years. Now it's an oasis, with this beautiful pond-side bench to sit on and dream.



And this recognition of someone who dreamed (and nagged) for the revival of the garden:



And this one to Elizabeth Casson who went on to help found the occupational health profession after seeing what good could be done in the garden's hall which put on activities such as dancing, singing, poetry readings and children's games...



And this bench is where the garden's fans hope the bandstand will one day be built again...

Water benches at the Barbican

Just right for a hot day...

Sunday Morning in St James Park

Dozing on benches...



and look at these deck chairs, set out two by two...

Just in case you were getting too comfortable...

Now this may look like a sort of suspended tree bench but it is in fact a 20 foot catapult. The piece of art, Ambush by Dexer Dymoke, is at Grizedale Forect in Cumbria and is apparently designed to 'challenge our relationship to the forest.' Just don't sit down on it to 'rest awhile'...

Resting spots

Two benches with gentle messages in my home town of Tunbridge Wells.

Pickle bench

This bench is made from reclaimed pickle barrel wood by Eric Strong from Oregon. (Is it just me or does a lot seem to be happening in Oregon right now?)

Thanks to Shedworking for passing on the link.

The Straw Bale Bench

Thanks to Crystal for drawing my attention to this winding 'straw' bench at the train station in Davis, California. Designed by John Hammond of Indigo Architects, and with tile decoration designed by his wife, Seico, the bench is over 200 lineal yards long and has graffiti that echoes that on the passing train carriages.

Park benches for teenagers

My local park replaced one park bench with these three benches arranged in a triangle. Cheers to them for admitting teenagers congregate round benches so they might as well make it pleasant for them - it makes me want to be young all over again.

My mum's bench

It was my mother, the writer, Elizabeth Peplow who inspired the title of this blog. When my son was really small, he came back from staying with his granny with all sorts of mannerisms and sayings he'd picked up - as often happens when children spend time with people they love. However, the one that really made me laugh happened when we were walking along in the park one day and he turned to me and said very solemnly, 'Shall we have a nice quiet sit down now?' I could so hear her voice in his and imagine how he must have tired her out when she said it. So when we wanted a memorial bench for her, it seemed exactly the right thing to put on it.



Somehow, it sums up all I love about memorial benches - the personal phrase that catches the spirit and memory of a person and even if you don't know them at all, you have some picture of who they might have been. Of course, nice and quiet is the opposite of how I remember my mum, although in some ways that was exactly how she was. Like the best people, she was complicated. I wrote this response to Jenny Joseph's famous poem for her recently. Although it's about Mum, I can think of nothing better than turning into my mother!

Response to Jenny Joseph
(in memory of EP)


I shall invite small boys to play ping pong with me
and grumble about their manners if I lose.
I’ll invent complicated games with dominoes
and keep changing the rules, the television
control will get lost when there’s a programme
I don’t want to watch, while for big horse races
I’ll invite the butcher over and we’ll keep the phone
between us on speed dial to the bookies. I’ll throw
lilies out the window because they smell of death,
I’ll pretend my gin is water and that every dress
is this old thing. I’ll never share my sweets.
Each Easter I’ll decorate the same Church window,
in the same way; I’ll get my family to judge
and act surprised when they say mine is best,
I’ll bet on everything and somehow always win.
Although no one knows exactly how, my house
will be filled with people who ‘want to help’,
who clean and organise and dog walk and always
stay for cups of tea after tea after tea until the cards
come out and my pile of loose change grows higher,
and when, at my funeral, they’ll cry and say
‘she was generous, gave us all so much',
despite the evidence, they’ll be right.

Bench art

The Westerville Arts Festival holds an annual bench art project, with all the benches being auctioned off for charity. Look at the webpage for more ideas for benches.