As I walked down to meet residents of Clausen Way in Pennington about Bargate’s plans for 110 homes on land south of Milford Road, I came across a bench looking significantly worse for wear. The bench was useable but the wooden slats which formed the seat were loose and the wood was worn away. There is a plaque on the bench in memory of a Mrs Marjorie Gill who passed away in April 1977. The bench was installed in her memory. It looks like it hasn’t been maintained since 1977. It really is the bench that time forgot…

I have asked the Town Clerk, as Lymington and Pennington Town Council have responsibility for maintaining and installing benches, to replace the bench and redo the plaque. It will be good to give the modern generation somewhere to sit down whilst walking through that part of Pennington and keep the memory of Marjorie Gill alive.

Going forward, I think the Council needs to be more proactive in maintaining benches and other street furniture. It shouldn’t be the case that a bench is left for 45 years without being repaired. I will check that, like other towns and parishes, Lymington and Pennington Town Council keeps a list of all benches and street furniture within both Lymington and Pennington.