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Bench washed 80 miles in storm returned to family

Ewan Gawne
BBC News, Manchester
Familyphotograph The backrest of a bench featuring a small inscription on a plaque sits wedged in the sand on a beach. Small stones and seaweed can be seen scattered around, with sea spray lining the beachline and cliffs looming in the distance. Familyphotograph
The bench was swept 80 miles (128km) up the coast from Wales to Cumbria

A tribute bench found on a beach 80 miles from where it was washed into the sea during a storm is set to be reunited with a family - who say the "heartwarming" effort of locals to track them down "restores your faith in people".

The wooden seat made in tribute to Warrington man Bill Batcock was pulled into the Irish Sea off Anglesey in December, before travelling 80 miles (130km) and resurfacing on the Cumbrian coast.

It was stumbled upon by members of a local Facebook group who tracked down the man's daughter, Helen Wharton, to tell her the bench had been found.

"Dad was such an adventurer, to think he's made a break for it to go on another adventure, it just makes me smile really," she said.

Familyphotograph Bill Batcock smiles wearing a fleece as he leans with his arms folded over a black garden fence. A verdant garden can be seen behind him, with trees and shrubs in the distance. Familyphotograph
Bill Batcock was described by his family as an "adventurer" who loved the outdoors

Ms Wharton said she and her family had "no idea" the bench had gone missing during Storm Darragh in December.

She said she was shocked to receive a message on social media with an image of the bench wedged between sand dunes on Drigg beach near Seascale, Cumbria, asking: "Is this yours?"

"I couldn't believe it, it was all so strange," said Ms Wharton, who lives in Padgate, Warrington.

Family photograph Two women sit on a brown wooden bench placed on a concrete base on a green headland looking out to sea. A family can be seen walking on rocks at the bottom of the area. Family photograph
The bench had been placed at Bull Head in Anglesey before storms ripped it from its base

The bench was erected on some exposed headland at Bull Bay on Anglesey to commemorate Mr Batcock, a lover of the Welsh coast and mountains, who died of leukaemia in 2018.

He asked for the bench to be placed there "as he wanted to look out across the sea, across the coast and mountains, towards home", she said.

Words from one of his poems had been inscribed on a plaque on the bench, which read: "For me, it has to be the sea."

Ms Wharton told BBC Radio Manchester the message was now "quite ironic" given the remarkable journey of the bench.

She said the campaign to return the bench was "really lovely", adding the words on the plaque had intrigued local people.

Familyphotograph A weathered metal plaque nailed into a piece of wood bearing the words: "For me, it has to be the sea," above the inscription: "Bill Batcock - 1949 - 2018."Familyphotograph
Locals curious about the bench inscription tracked down the family online

Megan O'Gorman, who runs the local Facebook group in which a member messaged to say they had found the bench, said she was determined to track down the family.

"I thought right, who is this person, where has this bench travelled from," she said.

Ms Wharton said: "It's just typical if you think of my dad, nothing would tie him down."

She and her family plan to travel to Cumbria on Friday to collect the bench and return it to its home on Anglesey.

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