Sue had loved Ian Dury since she was a miniskirt-wearing teenager in the seventies. It wasn’t just his music or the wit in his lyrics she craved: there was something much deeper.
It was the way he had made it to the big time, despite the lasting effects of childhood polio. He had fought hard, stood tall.
And so did Sue.
Last year, Sue and her husband Paul made a nostalgic pilgrimage: to Dury’s musical bench tucked away in a quiet corner of Richmond Park.
There, beneath the trees, she slipped on oversized headphones and let his voice carry her away. She had her ‘Reasons to be Cheerful’ for a few precious moments as it drifted from Dury’s musical bench.
That trip turned out to be her last.
After she was gone, Paul arranged for a remembrance bench on the coastal path.
A small plaque on the back of the seating invites strangers to ‘Stop.
Sit.
Close your eyes.
Listen.’
A mile from the nearest village, Sue’s bench plays every day, just like Dury’s.
Waves crash and gulls sing to the sea’s gentle lullaby.
So if you see her bench, don’t just pass by.
‘Stop.
Sit.
Close your eyes.
Listen.’
Published, Drabble, February 2022.
(Note, Ian Dury’s Musical bench is situated in Poet’s Corner, Richmond, TW10 5HX).
