Wirral Council say flowers and picture not allowed on memorial bench

Anita Woodfield, from Meols, was diagnosed with stage 4 ovarian cancer in January 2017.

After a tough and painful four-year battle with the disease, she died in March 2022.

Her daughter, Aimee Harding, 32, along with Anita's granddaughter, Nylah, 5, and Aimee's brothers, Elliot and Josh used to visit Queen's Park in Meols often to go for walks and play.

Speaking to the Globe about her mum, Aimee said: "My mum always wanted a granddaughter. She got diagnosed when Nylah was six weeks old which meant she couldn't really look after her on her own a lot.

"We spent an awful lot of time together.

"She cared for my brother who was autistic right until the very end. She gave back to everybody and always put everybody before herself. She was very well thought of in the community."

Anita and Nylah playing in Queen's Park (Image: Aimee Harding)

Anita's wish was to have her own memorial bench placed in the park so people could sit on it and remember her.

So her husband, Mark Woodfield, purchased the bench shortly after she died.

Aimee added: "She didn't want a grave where people would go and cry she wanted a bench where her and her dog Belle used to go for walks.

"She wanted the bench looking over the hills where her and Nylah used to play too."

Anita's memorial bench (Image: Aimee Harding)

As the bench is the only place the family can sit and remember Anita, it holds a very special place in all of their lives.

The family added two memorial flower vases to the rear of the bench and a small plaque that has a black and white picture of Anita on it. 

Aimee said: "Nylah loves visiting the bench and she'll give the picture of my mum a little kiss.

"She had her married name changed when she married my stepdad seven years ago. People who knew her from school or from the shops could see the plaque and remember her face.

"We added the vases so we could put flowers there on her birthday and as a family."

Nylah kissing the picture of Anita on the bench (Image: Aimee Harding)

On February 28, Mark received an email from Wirral Council confirming that someone had filed a complaint about there being two flower vases and a plaque with a picture of Anita attached to the memorial bench.

The council said this was "not permitted" and a clause in the terms and conditions says "the public nature of parks dictates that floral tributes or any other memorabilia are not permitted to be left on or around seat locations. Memorabilia will be removed by the council".

Aimee said: "March is a difficult month for us as a family. The end of the month will be one-year since my mum passed and it is also her wedding anniversary and a year since she went into hospice in a couple of days.

"We were really shocked by the email. We've had so many lovely comments and people will walk past and read it and even leave notes on the bench saying how it makes them happy and how beautiful it is."

The plaque on the bench (Image: Aimee Harding)

The council has also said that if the vases and plaque aren't removed by March 31 they will remove it themselves.

Aimee added: "Not only for us but any other families who have a bench similar for someone, you should be able to leave some flowers there to go and remember them.

"It's not unreasonable and they could even change the rules to make sure the vases and flowers were well maintained and at the rear of the bench so they are not obstructing anyone sitting on it.

"We bought the bench and we maintain it. They've allowed all of the benches at New Brighton Beach to be painted multi colours, which is fine, but allow us to have a few flowers.

"If it was covered in balloons, windmills, and dead flowers I'd understand but it isn't."

Comment from Wirral Council

A spokesperson for Wirral Council said: "When families contact us to ask for a memorial bench to remember a loved one, we always try our best to accommodate their choice of location and position as we know how important these are.

"There is a range of different types of memorial for families to choose, such as vases, tablets and vaults within the borough's gardens of remembrance, or in a park they can choose a memorial tree with plaque or a bird and bat box as well as a memorial bench.

"While we will always try to be considerate when flowers are placed by them, we do make it clear when people choose a bench that any permanent additions to these memorials in our parks are not permitted so that the style of bench and plaque is consistent and appropriate to the surroundings and the bench can be maintained."

Aimee has set up petition to allow families to leave flowers for loved ones on memorial benches.

It has received over 1,200 signatures in a few days.

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