Tribute bench reunited with family after remarkable sea journey

The family of man whose much-loved tribute bench was swept out to sea during a storm have been reunited with the treasured seat after it resurfaced 80 miles (128km) away.

Storm Darragh ripped the bench erected in memory of Bill Batcock from its base on Anglesey in December – only for it to wash up months later on a beach in Cumbria.

Local people who tracked down his family using an inscription left on the wooden seat have now returned it to them after holding on to the bench for safekeeping.

Mr Batcock’s daughter Helen Wharton said he would have found the story “hilarious, because he was a joker who loved life”.

A lover of the outdoors, Mr Batcock had asked his family to put the bench up on headland at Bull Bay on Anglesey.

“He was a fan of the sea, he loved a bit of an adventure, and he has seen an opportunity and go off on an other one,” Ms Wharton said.

Ms Wharton met the local people who had helped track down his family on Friday on Drigg beach near Seascale in Cumbria, the beach where the bench washed up.

The bench has been returned to her seven years to the day her father died, which was “quite surreal”, Ms Wharton said.

Shaun Davis found the bench on Drigg beach near Seascale, which until closer inspection he said he thought was “a bit of driftwood”.

He posted a picture on local Facebook group, before Megan O’Gorman used the information to track down the family and was there to hand it back to them.

She said: “Who doesn’t love a good story like this.”