Unique Bench designed for Wrights Meadow Centre

On a beautifully sunny and warm afternoon on Saturday 3 October 2015 a small crowd gathered at the entrance of the Wrights Meadow Centre to witness the unveiling of a metal bench.

Some months earlier we had received a surprise visit from Andreas Lang who had been commissioned by Berkeley Homes to design a piece of art for the new Wye Dene development and enquired whether we would like to be involved. He explained that he wanted to mark the fact that High Wycombe’s main industry had been furniture making and had been making the best picnic tables in the industry for quite some while, and that they’d thought that a chair arch would be appropriate.

His offer was immediately taken up and he then said he would like one of the students at Bucks New Uni to design and make a bench for the Centre. He then spoke to Jenny, Jan, Geraldine and Rita who were present at the coffee morning and he later introduced them to Hannah Vincent, the student who would design and have the chair made. Various designs were suggested and the four ladies chose a striking design and the bench could accommodate four people seated.

A few months passed and, in the meantime, the committee had approved a scheme to have the front of the building decked with artificial grass and a small covered area was subsequently added which could house the bench.

By mid-September the landscaping scheme had been completed ahead of the unveiling of the chair arch and the bench scheduled for 26 September. However the unveiling was unexpectedly deferred to 3 October which meant that Jan could not attend due to a booked holiday.

At 3 p.m. on Saturday 3 October a crowd gathered to see the Mayor of High Wycombe cut the ribbon to officially unveil the chair arch. The chairs are being donated to local residents who have submitted requests and they are being asked to donate a sum to the Wrights Meadow Centre on collection. After speeches a good number of people then made their way to the Centre for the unveiling of the bench. Peter Cartwright cut the ribbon alongside the bench’s designer, Hannah.

The bench looks superb and many photos were taken including those of Geraldine, Jenny and Rita on the bench. Our thanks must go to our four ladies and Hannah for choosing such an elegant design and providing a much needed bench of such high quality. The entrance to the Centre has now been greatly enhanced