Power of Facebook saves baby girl's memorial bench

The bench has now been returned after it went missing on Monday.

Harry Mason, 14, of Congreve Road, painted and fixed the bench dedicated to his baby sister Lauren, who was tragically stillborn 16 years ago.

The bench was erected 14 years ago, but age had damaged and weathered it.

Harry worked on it next to Lauren’s grave in Durrington Cemetery a couple of months ago, renovating it and painting it pink, but saw that it was gone on Monday.

He said: “I was a bit devastated. Why would anyone take a bench, it is just mad, but obviously someone had the nerve to do that.”

Harry appealed on a local Facebook group, which generated hundreds of responses, and the bench was found back in its spot on Tuesday morning.

He added: “I didn’t believe it when I found out it had been returned. However, it is back and I am happy about that. When I went up there I found tyre marks, and paint has been chipped on the bench, but it is back.

“I just want to thank everyone on Facebook, because there was a lot of people who helped, many of who offered to replace the bench.”

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