A memorial bench for a popular local man who died of cancer had a funny note left on it weeks after it was defaced.
Fred Fox died 10 years ago from bowel cancer when his daughter, Leah, was just a teenager.
This morning Leah, 26, from Seacombe was passing her dad’s bench when she noticed something unusual on it, outside The Ferry pub in Egremont.
Leah said: “I went for a run this morning at a quarter to seven and when I got up there I just saw this little tub with a note. I picked it up and read it.“
The note read: “In case you’ve lost your marbles, here’s some. You’re not alone - Samaritans 116 123”.
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The Samaritans mental health support charity's phone number is ‘116 123’ and next to the note was a sealed glass jar full of marbles.
Leah found the message funny and uplifting as only a few weeks ago a ‘disgusting word’ had been carved into her dad’s bench after it had been freshly painted.
Leah said: “My dad used to work on the doors as a bouncer and get called the gentle giant because he was never nasty, his motto always was ‘keep smiling’ which is on the bench.
“When he passed my little brother was only six, so we decided to get a bench sorted out and we wanted a place to remember him that wasn’t the cemetery.
“A few weeks ago my brother painted it blue because it was looking a bit dated and because my dad was a massive Everton supporter.
“We noticed soon after that somebody had written some disgusting word on the bench while the paint was drying. It really hurt us - we lost a lot of faith in the area.
“We repainted the bench. It was obviously kids just carving something dirty into the paint but it wasn’t funny to us.”
Leah said the bench has now become a bit of a landmark and that coming across the positive message this morning helped to give her a lift after it was defaced.
She added: “The bench sticks out like a sore thumb now because it’s blue.
“[The graffiti] really hurt us but seeing that this morning got me emotional and helped restore my faith.”
