We know ‘the seating in the Goyle is very popular and often occupied’ from comments by volunteers of the FOGG working party and from visitors and passers-by who stop to chat with the volunteers.
Two years ago the FOGG project looked at benches along the Glen – and approached the District Council about the possibility of having some gaps filled and some new benches installed.
And very generously, the council provided – and not only have they done so, installing new benches along the Glen last June – but they allowed the FOGG project to suggest a more ‘traditional design’ than the standard (and at the same cost!).
This meant that there were indeed memorial benches now available along the Glen – and anyone can apply to the council to make a request for one of these benches, which is very straightforward: Donate a memorial bench and plaque – East Devon
One such request came from one of the FOGG project’s foremost patrons, the Bassett/Cohen family, who lived at Asherton House, whose gardens form the core of today’s Glen Goyle.
They spent some time and effort choosing a site for a new memorial bench along the Glen, deciding on a spot on the former lawn of the gardens, overlooking where the house would have stood.
And, again, the council has been very accommodating and helpful – its councillors, its officers and its grounds-people.
Now the bench has been installed – with a series of photographs taken over the last days since it was put in place last Friday.
This is the view taken by FOGG member John Hopkins, towards the Japanese maple and beyond to where Asherton House once stood.
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Here are photos of the actual installation, taken by Horticultural Officer Paul Fealey who was onsite to ensure that the bench was positioned where requested.
Firstly, a photo of the plinth:
And here are photos of the actual installation undertaken by a member of the Streetscene team. With big thanks to both Paul and his colleague!
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Finally, here’s a photo taken by FOGG member John McGregor, of the plaque now on this memorial bench:
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The members of the Bassett/Cohen family have said they would like “to thank everyone in the VGS, FOGG and the East Devon District Council for their various roles in ordering, installing and identifying the site for the new memorial bench in the Glen Goyle lawn area in memory of our grandfather and aunt.”
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