For those of you that are new to our Bench Chat recordings, they are a simple concept which is by no means new. Choose a place with a bench, invite a friend, grab a tea or coffee or other refreshment and talk to each other. Share memories, take in the surroundings, and in this bench chat consider the circle of life and how things end and everything changes but company and nature can helps us through the hardest times. At the bottom of the page you will be able to hear a recording of the bench chat we shared.
I recently met up with Alison Thompson, founder of The Patchwork Meadow project, for a bench chat in the beautiful Warley Woods. It was one of those warm, sunny days when the park feels like it’s holding everyone gently. Alison kindly grabbed two coffees from the Happy Coffee Man, who according to Alison sells the best coffee in Birmingham (other coffee sellers are available) and we settled down to talk.
Alison told me about what visiting Warley Woods meant to her and described the view from our bench.
She also shared her own experiences of nature, which considering her deep connection with nature now, wasn’t the same when she was young. Growing up in Liverpool although close to the sea Alison didn’t really experience the “countryside” until she went to Bradford University when she was 18. She shared a funny student memory of breaking the heel of her (ill-advised) high heels in a cattle grid after joining a walk through the beautiful Brontë countryside of Yorkshire . It was the kind of story that makes you laugh and wince a bit at the same time — a reminder that our relationship with nature is rarely tidy. The same problem of access to nature sometimes depending on what shoes we have was echoed in the community research Alison has been doing with parents telling her they didn’t want their children’s shoes to get muddy as that was the only pair they had.
As we carried on the conversation we were surrounded by birdsong, the fleeting, sometimes amusing, words of people passing by, and the words on the black metal memorial bench we were sitting on — “and when the earth shall claim your limbs, then shall you truly dance” — we reflected together on life’s cycles and the inevitability of change.
When I asked Alison the big question, “How are you?”, her answer was layered with honesty. Alison answered that normally she would have said that life was really good, but went on to share the sad news of the death of a close friend’s partner the day before. Yet, she also said that in that moment, sitting in the park and being able to talk, she felt strangely OK. The words of the memorial bench suddenly resonated with both of us – we had chosen this bench over the others and perhaps things happen for a reason, a gentle reassurance being given when we needed it.
The whole conversation felt warm, relaxed, and deeply human. Warley Woods itself seemed to join in as a place of comfort, resilience, and welcome.
You can listen to our bench chat hear. Grab some refreshments choose a comfy place and settle down to listen to our conversation and the sounds of Warley Wood :
Naturally Birmingham Future Parks Project 