Maggie Davison with her bench

Dedicated to Maggie

Plaque on Maggie's bench

This week saw the presentation of the first prize for the Benchmark writing competition.  For various reasons beyond everyone’s control, it has taken a while after the announcement of the winners for the bench to meet up with its plaque and then to be delivered to the winner.

Presentation to Benchmark winnerSo it was a great delight when Crystal Booth of Willow Burn Hospice and I visited competition winner Maggie Davison at her Hexham home to find the bench (with plaque) installed in her garden.

It was also an opportunity to present Willow Burn Hospice with the £150 raised by those who took part in the competition, so many thanks once again.

The message on the plaque is of course dedicated to a living person (Maggie) and quite rightly celebrates and treasures life here and now.  We hope Maggie will have many happy hours sitting on her bench and that it may provide a continued source of inspiration for her writing.

CLICK HERE to read Maggie’s and the other winning entries from the Benchmark competition