The Story of Wend’s Bench. At the top of Westwood Road, at its’ junction with Downs Road, is a gate leading onto Farthing Downs. Just about 100 yards straight ahead and slightly to the left, is a bench in the shade of a small copse of trees. This is ‘Wend’s Bench’. In the early days of our lives together, when we would go for walks on the Downs with Saxon, we would often stop for a ‘breather’ at this bench. I asked Wend why she called it ‘her bench’ ? She told me that in the years she was alone and struggling to bring up two children on her own and with limited means, sometimes it would all get too much for her and she would take herself off to the bench on the Downs where she could be alone to cry and let it all out without the children seeing her upset, and thereby upsetting them. Once she had got the stress,worry and tears out of her system she would go back home again and carry on in the indominatable way that only Wend could. In those days, ‘her bench’ was a place of sadness. In the years we were together, we would go there regularly when walking Saxon and we would sit there taking in the wonderful view over the rooftops to the fields opposite and across to Reigate Hill. We so loved the view there and instead of a place of sadness, it became a place of love and happiness as we sat there together holding hands or with our arms around each other. When dear old Saxon passed away in September 2007, we scattered his ashes there as he used to enjoy running up and down the hill to and from the bench chasing his Frisbee so much. Wend always told me that she loved that spot so much and it’s beautiful views and that when it was time, she wanted her ashes to be placed there as well. I promised I would do that for her. It took me a long time to be able to say goodbye to my darling Wend, but in July 2010 I kept my promise and Matt, Sarah, Marlene and me took Wend’s earthly remains and scattered them around the bench as she had asked me to do. I know it is not Wend that we left there, just the remains of the body that let her down. So now we have come full circle as Wend's Bench has once again become a place of sadness where I go to cry alone as she did so many years ago. Wend is within all of us, in our hearts and minds and she will never be far from us, the people who loved her so much and who she loved in return. To the world, she was just one person but to this one person, she was the world. One day my remains will make that final journey to the same spot on the Downs as well and we will be reunited in love once again but this time for all eternity. I will always love you my darling Wend. XXXXXX