Mike Gillard with son Chris and grandchildren Seth and Violet with the new bench
Three generations of family members gathered to mark the replacement of a bench honouring a village stalwart.
The original bench, at Coles Garden, Kilmersdon, was installed as a memorial to farmworker Percy Gillard, who devoted hours of his spare time to running the village’s social club and organising outings.
After he died in 1989, the bench was installed with a plaque reading: “Presented 1990
in memory of Percy Gillard, long time stalwart of Kilmersdon Social Club.”
After 30 years of enduring the elements the bench fell into disrepair and had to be taken away. But White Horse Housing Association, which has a number of homes in Coles Garden, decided to replace it and contacted Percy’s son Mike about also recreating the plaque.
“I was very pleased,” he said. “The old bench was in a real state so it’s nice to see the new one here with dad’s name on it.”
Mike, a retired motor mechanic, was joined by his grandchildren Seth, nine, and Violet, six, as son Chris added the replacement plaque to the bench.
“It’s good that dad’s name lives on,” said Mike. “He was a farmworker at Home Farm, which was owned by Lord Hylton’s estate. When he was semi-retired he was the warden for the houses in Coles Garden, which were all owned by the estate.”
The estate homes, which were looked after by Kilmersdon Housing Association, were transferred to White Horse in 2015. Operations Director Belinda Eastland said: “We were so pleased to be able to replace the bench because it’s such a lovely spot for people to stop, rest and chat. I was delighted when the family agreed to have a new version of the original plaque back on it because it’s preserving a little bit of local history.”
White Horse has recently converted the historic Meeting Room in Coles Garden, which was once a cart barn belonging to Home Farm, into a two-bedroom for rent and is seeking someone with local connections to move in.