A father has taken steps to make sure his daughter's name lives on in memory by becoming the first person to buy a park bench under a new scheme.

Residents' group Friends of the Prom has started an initiative to improve seating in Maldon's green spaces by selling wooden benches to bereaved relatives.

Pensioner John Jeffrey has taken them up on the offer and visited Promenade Park to admire a newly-installed memorial to his daughter, Katherine Newark, who died of kidney failure in 2002, aged just 46.

Mr Jeffrey said he decided the bench - situated near the boating lake at the far end of the park - would be an ideal tribute, giving the whole town something to remember Katherine by.

"She always liked to come down to the Prom when she could, although she had to go up to London three times a week for dialysis treatment," he said.

"She was good-hearted and well-known and loved by lots of people in the town, and this will be a memorial to her that everybody can get the benefit of."

Published Wednesday, May 21, 2003

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