Taking a seat in honour of town group

A PLAQUE first presented to Barnard Castle almost 30 years ago has been rededicated, thanks to an innovative town council scheme.

The town’s Inner Wheel Club donated a public bench fitted with the plaque in 1989 to mark the branch’s 40th anniversary. The bench fell into disrepair but now the plaque has been refitted to a newly refurbished seat at the bottom of Galgate, near the Three Horseshoes.
Barnard Castle Town Council operates a bench restoration scheme for anyone in the town wishing to donate a seat.
The Inner Wheel seat and plaque were unveiled by Grace Ash, the club’s last president before it folded, and deputy mayor Cllr Roger Peat.
They were joined by other former members of the Inner Wheel Club. Cllr Peat said it was a special occasion for him, as his mother Margaret had been a former president of the club. He said the seat had been refurbished by trainees at the YMCA centre at The Hub, in Shaw Bank.
Mrs Ash said she hoped a people would spend a lot of happy hours sitting there.