05-12-2024

Just waiting for Santa to arrive now.

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Florence Court from Segensworth Road

I think that we are starting to get the hang of this Christmas malarky. After our success at The Great Barn (If you haven't been yet you really ought to pay it a visit) we were asked to create a sleigh for his royal Santaness at Florence Court, the care home at Segensworth. A little while ago they invited us to spend some of our Tuesday afternoon social sessions there with the hope that some of their residents could join in. Anyway, we had our first session there the other day, what a great place it is, and somehow somebody suggested that they needed a Santa's sleigh that residents and their families could have their pictures taken in, we thought that we would offer one of John C's planters as a gift as well, the choice seemed quite appropriate.

Not sure who picked up the challenge but the team consisted of Chris H, Chris L, Colin F, Bill K and was headed by Dave M. Well, the first thing that was needed was a bench so Dave set to and started making one specifically for the job, two days in and the Co-Op Funeral Directors in Park Lane called and said "We have had this memorial bench sitting around for a little while now - it's brand new, still in the box and it's yours if you can find a suitable a use for it". Could we ever? It was absolutely perfect for the job in hand, a nice hardwood bench that we could clad with the necessary bits to make it an all-year round jobbie because our panels would just come off and be replaced as needed. (I think Dave was a little bit miffed at the timing but it certainly saved a lot of time and effort.

I ordered two large sheets of ply which luckily turned up when I wasn't there, and the real work began. Two side panels, a back panel, and two removable front panels were created, painted and attached to the bench with some clever screw system making it pretty easy to dismantle and re-assemble as and when. A call was made to put the laser cutter to work for the decorative bits and finally led strings that turn themselves off after 6 hours were used to add that extra twinkle .

Come the day the team transported the lot to site and set to to assemble it all. I turned up as official pest getting pictures while Jess and Abi looked after us royally. Great morning was had by all. As a nice little twist, the bench has a hole hidden in it and little glass phials came with it, ostensibly to keep a few of the loved ones ashes in - after all it is a memorial bench from a funeral directors, so Chris H created a little note that we popped inside for posterity. So far everybody has been extrmely impressed with our effots, we can but hope that it brings joy and fun to some people's lives.

Author: Chris Nixon: