Memorials are erected not only for the “great and the good”, they are also commissioned by friends and family members to both commemorate the life of a loved one, but also to mark the connection of the deceased person with a location. You might have sat on such a memorial without noticing!
The bench is located in Victoria Embankment Gardens, London. The gardens designed by Alexander McKenzie were laid out on 20 acres of land reclaimed when the Embankment was constructed in 1864. The subsoil came from the building of the Metropolitan District Railway and the topsoil from Barking Creek
The brass plaque states the bench is a gift
“From the family of Yoshihiko Nagaya with fond memories of years spent in London”.
We are left with a number of questions:
Who was Yoshihiko Nagaya?
What if anything was his connection with the Victoria Embankment Gardens? Was it a favourite place to sit or stroll among the flowerbeds? Did he sit in the deckchairs by the bandstand listening to concerts held there at lunchtimes in the summer?
What is known is the bench provides a resting place for office workers to eat their sandwiches. Or for old and young to rest their weary feet, before continuing their walk along the Embankment. On the way, they might stop and look at the more formal monuments located in the gardens and previously described in my previous Wednesday blogs.
