Histon and Impington Parish Council have been working with local residents on a lasting memorial to the late Pat Fleet and her mother. We are delighted that a bench has now been installed at a site at School Hill and we are holding a small gathering to unveil the bench on Saturday 7th December at 11 a.m.
Pat Fleet was a popular midwife in Histon, who was killed in an accident, along with her mother. There was previously a commemorative garden to her next to Tesco at School Hill, but the area was not reinstated when the development of the units was undertaken and it is now not a garden, although the land was never under Parish Council ownership, so we had little control over what happened. A group of ladies who worked with Pat, or who knew her from having attended the birth of their children, wanted to put in place a new commemorative item.
Cllr Payne worked with the group to get together some ideas of what was required, and it was decided that a commemorative bench would be a suitable item. As the area at School Hill was about to undergo renovation, the suggestion was put to the group that a suitable place could be found for a memorial bench at this location, which they agreed upon. The item was brought to the Nature and Biodiversity Committee who agreed to fund the project from S106 Public Art funds, subject to approval of the quote.
The Parish Council then looked for suppliers of metal benches, finding three that could supply bespoke designs. After starting discussions with them, only one suppler responded with queries regarding details and a draft design. The supplier is well known for providing decorative benches and has supplied benches to other parishes such as Milton. The questions were put to the group, who responded, and these were passed to the supplier, who provided a draft design. This design was discussed with the group, and some alterations made. A second draft was supplied, and this was approved by the group. The bench is now installed on site and ready to be presented to the villages.
We invite anyone who would like to see the unveiling to attend on site in the day, although please note it is a quite small area so we might not be able to a large number of people in the area. We would also like to put together some memories of Pat from those who had support from her in the villages, and also her colleagues at the Rosie Hospital. If you would like to contribute something, please email your memories to helpdesk@hisimp-pc.gov.uk with Pat Fleet in the title and we will put them all together in a book, along with information on the previous memorial garden. Please pass this on to anyone else you think might like to contribute.