Walking the Greener Ipswich Route with ‘The Bench Man’

In August we wrote a news article focusing on the ‘Oasis / Greener Ipswich’ (GI) project and mentioned some of the wonderful benches that sit alongside many of the trees and planters along the route. We recently walked the route with some of the other Greener Ipswich volunteers including ‘The Bench Man’ Tim Germain, so we thought we would focus on benches in this article.

Almost the first thing that the GI project achieved was creating a ‘nautical-themed’ curved bench adjoining the grassy knoll near St Peter’s by the Waterfront church. Tim Germain designed the bench and it became a template for many of the other benches along the route. Tim explained,

All the timber is ‘needs-must’ felled from the parks in Ipswich and supplied by the wonderful volunteers of Greenways countryside project – so whenever a tree falls down or needs to be felled for safety reasons, Greenways have a portable saw mill and they plank it up and sell it to me.

One of the things that GI wanted to do was use local materials and craftsmen so it is very appropriate that Tim heard about the project from Liz Harsant, former leader of Ipswich Borough Council. Liz commented “I’ve always loved Tim – I remember bathing him when he was a baby, I knew his mother!” – so you don’t get much more local roots than that!

Regarding the wave bench, Tim said it is one of those nice jobs where you turn up and I start talking about my ideas and they say “No, no, you decide, you make it and we will go with it, because we are in a hurry”. Richard Bloomfield suggested a ‘wave’ theme and that was enough for Tim to get going with the idea. The bench was initially critised for being ‘expensive’. In fact one local politician (who will remain nameless) described it as “a complete waste of money”. However most people seemed to like it and it has been really well used by passers-by, setting the style for future benches along the route. There will always be cheaper benches, no doubt made abroad, but as Tim says “I charge what it costs to make and the money stays in Ipswich”.

Tim went on to add,

The reason we use random slats isn’t just for fun but it is so we get the best use out of the timber we have – if you buy the planks off a timber merchant they will come in perfect… but if you are buying from Greenways, which isn’t plantation timber, it is natural park wood, it hasn’t been grown for timber… so you have all these knots and splits and imperfections… I am getting the most I can from the timber. The randomness is not just an affectation it is to get the best value out of the timber we have.

Because it is local wood also means there are no ‘transport miles’ and it is helping fund a local countryside project in Greenways.

Tim also explained that the benches were made from English oak as it lasts well out of doors (sweet chestnut can also be used) – the local timber is becoming a bit short at the moment until the next oak tree is blow down.

As we were walking the route, a lady called Blue King appeared, who had assisted Tim with bench sanding and preserving. Blue lives locally, she has no garden and she remarked that it was lovely to have the greenery – “It has brought the community back together”

Although the trees and planters along the Ipswich GI route look fabulous, Tim’s benches are one of the real highlights from the project – let’s hope other town and cities follow this example of using local materials and craft men and women.

Photo Credit: Greener Ipswich: