Great Gonerby bench dedicated to villagers who helped each other in lockdown

A friendship bench has been placed in Great Gonerby dedicated to the efforts of villagers who came together during lockdown in 2020.

The horseshoe-shaped bench has been made by Chris Kennedy, of Grantham company Roll and Scroll, and commemorates local people who decorated stones and clapped for NHS workers during Covid.

The bench was designed by parish councillor Karri-Anne Davey.

The idea was first discussed by Great Gonerby Parish Council to create awareness of loneliness and the mental health issues of people who spend days without seeing another person and to encourage villagers to get out and about and have a chat on a focal friendship bench.

Janet Walker, parish clerk, said: "However, as Covid took hold and more and more people suffered from isolation, the more the idea developed. During 2020 the village started a Rockdown Lockdown project, where stones were decorated by people of all ages and then placed around the village to be found.

"The project gave purpose to making something bright and fun during a time of uncertainty, fear and sadness.

"The project took off so well the Parish Council decided to collect the stones and include them as a lasting reminder of what decorating and placing these stones did for people, in a dark period of time for our village and how villagers found a way to connect with each other and made many people smile, not only doing the stones, but finding them too.

"It has taken many months which turned into years to create the 3m horseshoe bench and Parish Council Chairman, Blake Hutchinson, would like to extend his sincere thanks to Chris Kennedy of Roll and Scroll for his many hours of dedicated work in putting together a design that was achievable and the whole of Great Gonerby could not be prouder of the end result.

"We very much hope those who decorated a stone will take the time to see if they can find theirs and look forward to chatting to villagers who use it for many years to come."

Chris incorporated the decorated stones into the bench and used epoxy resin to fix them and allow people to see them. The bench also includes metal cutouts of children placing the stones and of St Sebastian's Church which can be seen across the road from the bench.

Chris has made a number of benches, many of them commemorating local people, which have been installed in Grantham town centre and nearby villages.

Chris said: "It is one of the most expensive benches I have ever made. It was quite a long process this one. I think the bench took about three days to make and the epoxy resin was done in stages. Luckily I’d somewhere to store the bench because the resin takes a long time to go off."