A couple of months ago Colin, Josh's Dad, and myself decided it would be lovely for everyone to have a special place to share with Josh and we invited people to raise funds for a memorial bench to be placed in Heaton Park for our boy.  

We learnt that the park grounds are listed, meaning it would need to be a certain kind of bench. Thanks to so much generous support, amazingly it didn’t take long to raise the cost of £1,300 to purchase the bench.

Whilst I was completing the last part of my three peak challenge, I got a phone call saying that it was ready to go in.  It was a brilliant feeling, and even better that I found out on July 14 - 14 being Josh’s special number.

Unfortunately, due to the weather, it wasn’t possible to get the bench installed then and there, and instead it went in on July 18, which meant I could be there.  The man putting it in said that he had never had someone taking photographs of them before – but we had to explain this was no ordinary bench!

The bench has its very own special plaque, dedicated to our hero, SuperJosh and is located slightly down the hill from the ice-cream van (near the animals).  It is placed between two trees, and on the day it was installed there was a small fairground opposite playing Disney tunes. It was magical and very emotional that whilst the bench was being installed they were playing “Circle of Life”, from his favourite film, The Lion King.

It's a beautiful bench for a beautiful boy in a very beautiful place and we look forward to sharing the bench with everyone. 

We would love to see photos of you and your family visiting it over the coming months.