'I have sat on my daughter's memorial bench for 10 years... now I have to pay up or the plaque will be removed'

ANNE Needham created precious memories playing with her daughter in a Rochdale park.

- BY NEAL KEELING

Those days came to mind when her daughter died, aged 32, from cancer.

Anne later decided to have a memorial bench installed in Springfield Park, on Bolton Road.

An inscription on it reads: “Remembering Liz Needham who spent her childhood enjoying this park. Always in our hearts. Mum and Dad”

Elizabeth died in 2003. Tragically, in 2020 Anne lost her husband, Peter, to cancer too, aged 74.

She had a bench installed just a few yards away from her daughter's for him.

She paid for both benches and the tribute plaques herself.

But now she has been told by Rochdale Council she must pay £559 in order to keep her daughter’s plaque on the bench or it will be removed and returned to her.

The payment is for another 10-year lease, and maintenance of the bench. But when the bench was installed a decade Anne says she was not told of any such charge.

The council claim the terms were mentioned at the time she bought the bench, and the fee pays for “maintenance and upkeep” over the next decade.

Anne paid about £1,200 to the council for each of the seats.

“My daughter died aged 32, 22 years ago. We used to go to the park when she was a little girl. When she died because of that, and because she went to live in a house near Springfield Park after her divorce I thought it was the ideal place to put a bench in her memory.

“It cost £1,182. I knew people who knew her would sit on the bench.

“I did that, and then, sadly, my husband Peter died during lockdown in 2020. Despite losing Peter many years after Elizabeth, there was no still no other bench near hers when he died. So, I decided to put one for Peter close to hers.”