Appeal to find families of those remembered by memorial benches in Scarborough's South Cliff Gardens

For years, people who have had holidays at the resort have had seats given in their memory with often moving inscriptions on plaques, recording happy times in the town’s gardens overlooking the South Bay, harbour and castle.

Now, as part of the scheme to regenerate the area, funded by the National Heritage Lottery, the Friends of South Cliff Gardens are seeking to find the families of those remembered by the seats.

Project officer Victoria Thompson said: “Many of the seats commemorate the many people and their families who over the years have fallen in love with Scarborough.

“People from across the world have taken out leases for the benches to lay down their legacies with the stunning setting of the gardens.

“However, over the years information about the leases has regrettably been lost.”

Now the Friends are appealing for people to come forward and claim their benches, she said.

“We would like to unlock these hidden personal connections and reinstate the seats within the gardens.”

The gardens include the Italian Rose Garden, the Shuttleworth and Prince of Wales Gardens and St Martin’s Square, several of which date back to 1889 when the gardens were created over a 40-year period and stretch from the Spa to Holbeck – scene of the collapse of the Holbeck Hall Hotel in 1993.

Scarborough Council and the Friends Group have been awarded a grant from the National Lottery to renovate the gardens, which will include refurbishing the memorial seats.

A message from the Editor:

Thank you for reading this story on our website. While I have your attention, I also have an important request to make of you.

In order for us to continue to provide high quality and trusted local news on this free-to-read site, I am asking you to also please purchase a copy of our newspaper.

Our journalists are highly trained and our content is independently regulated by IPSO to some of the most rigorous standards in the world. But being your eyes and ears comes at a price. So we need your support more than ever to buy our newspapers during this crisis.

With the coronavirus lockdown having a major impact on many of our local valued advertisers - and consequently the advertising that we receive - we are more reliant than ever on you helping us to provide you with news and information by buying a copy of our newspaper.

Thank you