Third ‘talking bench’ is installed in Market Square
A THIRD ‘talking bench’ has been installed, this time in the heart of St Peter Port, in the hope that people will be encouraged to talk to others if they are struggling, and more are said to be on the way.
The idea follows the appearance of similar benches around the UK and has been picked up in Guernsey by Sarah Bamford, Aileen Morgan and Collette Quertier – three mothers who lost their sons to suicide.
So far two of the bright orange benches have been installed at Petit Bot and St Martin’s, and the latest one followed the efforts of the trio and sponsors Skipton Community Fund which approached both the parish constables and Bailiwick Investments, who gave the project their blessing.
The names of the three young men are mentioned on the bench’s dedication plaque – Jacob (Quertier), Cam (Le Page) and Matt (Butterfield) who were aged 21, 28 and 42 respectively when they took their own lives.
Philippa Hardwick was among the friends and family members who attended the short ceremony to launch this latest bench.
A friend of Mr Le Page’s, she said she was with him only two days before his death, but like everyone else had no idea how he was really feeling.
The bench at Petit Port was dedicated to him.
‘I take my stepchildren Charlie, who’ll be 12 in August, and Poppy there.
‘We’ve explained what it’s for and we’ve said that if they ever want to talk but not at home to just say and we can go down to the bench and do it.
‘What’s said on the bench stays on there.’
She said it was important that it was important that students at secondary schools needed to be made aware that if they were ever feeling low it was not necessarily a bad thing and they should not be afraid to talk.
Often it is easier to talk to a stranger than a friend or family member, said Mrs Bamford. ‘None of us had any idea at all about what our sons were contemplating doing.’
After a short introduction by her and a prayer from St Peter Port mission priest the Rev. Peter Graysmith, she and the other two mothers cut the ribbon to officially open the bench, after which she paid special tribute to Skipton’s PR manager Julie Todd and thanked her for her enthusiasm and support for the idea.
Mrs Bamford said it was hard to get young people talking, especially young men, among whom suicide has been a major problem in recent years.
But young women, too, fall victim to it. ‘More than 300 children in the UK die every year by suicide and that’s tragic,’ she said.
The bench was made of recycled material by the Go charity’s ‘Mike J’ who said he had ‘another four on the go’ and it was hoped to have them installed this year.
