Just 22 letters…and no flowers!!

Benches with inscriptions such as this will no longer be accepted around the harbour.

PEOPLE wanting to remember a loved one with a granite bench at the harbour will in future have to keep the inscription short.
Previous sponsors did not have to go through the same rigorous process as people wishing to erect seats around the rest of the coast.
The issue was highlighted in yesterday’s Guernsey Press after Dorcas Woodland received a warning from the Environment Department about commemorative objects being left at a granite bench erected at Bordeaux in memory of her son. It emerged that it had taken two years of ‘wrangling’ to get the bench in place.
Environment granted the Town Centre Partnership permission for 52 granite benches around the harbour.
Group chairman Jack Honeybill, a St Peter Port North deputy and a member of Environment, arranged sponsorship for each bench at £2,500 including engraving.
At the time that was unrestricted but, following a series of benches which have been deemed inappropriate, Deputy Honeybill said changes had had to be made.
‘The partnership has changed its policy and, regrettably, in the future benches will not have dates and will be restricted to 22 letters (from thisisguernsey)

I cannot believe the stance taken by the Environment on this...

people should be able to have whatever they want engraved on the memorial benches . after all they are paying for them .

Hitler would be proud of his heritage........obviously the 'Jack-Boot' didn't stop at the Liberation of the Islands (he missed out on a lot of people who would have been really good recruits for his cause).....

I suppose it depends at what they call inappropriate.

They could just hire one of the graffiti vandals to paint on the epitaph. The ones on the roadside boxes last for years so should weather well on granite.

I agree with Wayside, what is inappropriate/appropriate. Guidelines should be set. I think iif it is a memorial bench then dates "born-died" should be allowed. What is wrong with "Remembering Fred Smith who loved this view, Born 12/12/1912 - Died 12/12/2000"
About 64 letters and I think (you do not have to agree) okay. Tells a passerby who it is for, when he lived/died and why it is there. Not over effusive or gushing. We don't need a poem or loads of blurb keep it simple but to the point this is a seat of rememberance nothing more

A GRIEVING mother has been told by the Environment Department to remove a single red rose placed under her son’s memorial bench.
Dorcas Woodland was devastated when she received a warning letter on what would have been son Daniel Pleisch’s 28th birthday.
It said that a number of complaints had been made and asked that the items - flowers and a candle - be removed from the bench at Bordeaux as soon as possible.
There was also a small collection of shells left by Daniel’s two children, India, 7, and four-year-old Kaion.
‘I couldn’t believe what a fuss was made about a couple of little shells and a flower that his children left.
‘I had a red rose to take there that day, but after I read that letter, I was afraid to leave anything,’ said Mrs Woodland.
A rose she left on Valentine’s Day was still under the bench, barely visible through the grass.
Mr Pleisch, a self-employed gardener, was 24 when he died following a motorcycle accident on 12 October 2005.

• The Environment Department said it regretted it was unable to respond fully to the points raised by Mrs Woodland in the time available before this story went to print. The department said it would comment shortly and give information on the standard conditions attached to the installation of memorial benches on the coastal lands that Environment manages on behalf of the Crown and the States. (from thisisguernsey)
  

Total Madness...

You said it! Total Utter Madness!!!
and who, on earth would complain about such a loving act???
Some people need to seriously..."get A Life!!!"

Bureaucratic nonsense IMO!!




Big Brother rules and regulations!!

Well, lucky The Environment Department were not in control of the gates outside of Buck' House in the week following 31/08/97.

I thought we were talking INAPPROPRIATE not the odd flower.

George Orwell Rocks!!!!

I was discussing this with someone today and he said that if a bench has too much on it, he would not sit on it as he would feel he is somehow sitting on a burial stone rather than a bench.

I would think a simple In memory of name and dates would be best.

A MOTHER who fought to erect a memorial bench for her son has been overwhelmed by the response from the public.
Dorcas Woodland’s son, Daniel Pleisch, a self-employed gardener, was 24 when he died following a motorcycle accident on 12 October 2005.
She spent two years trying to gain permission from Environment for a granite seat to be built in his memory at Bordeaux. She was eventually able to put a basic granite bench, with his name and dates only, on the site which held special memories for the family.
She then received a letter from the department, on what would have been her son’s 28th birthday this year, instructing her to remove a single red rose she had placed there and some shells left by his two young children.
Mrs Woodland said she was amazed by the numbers of letters and phone calls she received following her story appearing in the Guernsey Press.
The grieving mum said she felt like she had the support of the whole island. ‘Having all these people write and phone has been very touching.’ (from thisisguernsey)

I'm a
little confused, why can't Mrs. Woodland leave flowers at the grave?

It's not really a grave - it is a memoral granite bench for anyone who wishes to enjoy the view can use....and someone in their wisdom decided that she could not lay roses on it (not a whole bunch - three single roses I believe)