About
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Greater Cumbrae has hundreds of benches, with the majority of them found in Millport. Most of those benches have plaques acting as memorials. North Ayrshire Council, (who I have no connection with), has a project to protect Millport from sea flooding, and this means that that a lot of the existing benches along the seafront in Millport are being (re)moved.
The aim of this project was to photograph each bench (and any plaque) on the island, before anything happened, and publish them on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.
Even two years after I started this project I'm still finding new benches and plaques, so I'm no longer saying that I have all the benches and plaques, but I think I've got most of them!
As of March 2023 work is now starting on the Sea Defence works, and benches and plaques are now being actively removed from the seafront in Millport.
The Council were trying to locate the owners of a number of benches they had no contact details for, this has now come to an end, as the work has started.
Find
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this is a very simple search engine, one or two words work best! You can search for 'bench removed' or 'plaque removed'
News & Links
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Links:
- https://www.north-ayrshire.gov.uk - North Ayrshire Council's web page (usually very out of date)
- https://www.facebook.com/the "MILLPORT COASTAL FLOOD PREVENTION SCHEME" facebook page - (unsure how official this is)
- millportmemorialplaques@north-ayrshire.gov.uk - Use this to contact NAC about the plaques
- millportcoastalfps@north-ayrshire.gov.uk - Use this to contact NAC about the sea defence work
News
20 Feburary 2023
NAC facebook -
We are going to start removing memorial plaques from benches in Millport in preparation of £48 million flood defence works.
The works - being carried out by contractors Van Oord UK Ltd with support from subsidiary Mackley Civil Engineering - are due to begin in mid-March.
Our Streetscene service are scheduled to start removing the plaques as part of this process from today ( Monday, 20 February)
Owners of the plaques have previously been told of the plans that they will be either kept with a view to affixing to a new memorial board in the centre of Millport or returned to the owner/family.
If any owner/family wish the plaque to be sent to them, please contact millportmemorialplaques@north-ayrshire.gov.uk by 31 March 2023 - otherwise the Council will assume the plaque to be affixed to the new memorial board.
20 Feburary 2023
Millport Photos Facebook - in another facebook post local councillor Ian Murdoch gives more information "Clyde Coast & Cumbraes Men's Shed
Have been commissioned to make a display board to hold all of the plaques that are removed.
The board will be installed when the Flood Defence Project has been completed."
and when asked where:
"Within the new Flood Defence. I presume the exact location will be decided nearer completion."
further more, when asked about what's happening to the benches:
"The best ones will be relocated to other areas."
19 Feburary 2023
Cosy Corner - I saw a comment of facebook from an "owner" of a bench at Cosy Corner, and they had been told by the council that the works are not impacting that location. So, the four benches and one wall plaque should be safe!
Map
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