SEAT

All around Boscombe, along the promenade, in parks and on the pier are wooden seats with plaques on them to the memory of loved ones. Whilst walking along the pier yesterday, although I have seen this SEAT many times, on this occasion, it really touched me.

This seat is there to remember 4 young local surfers:

Simon Smith (The Silver Surfer) : 1968-2006
Lewis Dunton : 1971-2005
James Alexander Foy : 1976-2005
Pete Happé : 1976-2008

Seeing these names affected me more deeply than I realised, and when I woke in the night and heard the wind howling and the rain lashing down, I thought of these young men, who had died doing something they loved, but I also thought of their families and friends who were mourning their loss.

I had noticed that there were some flowers tucked behind the seat, but as these were looking rather bedraggled and sad, I decided that I would get up early this morning, and go up to the florist where I bought 6 red carnations, which I have left on the seat in memory of these four young surfers.

The other two are in memory of two young men, Braden, the son of a dear blipper friend, and Jim, who were lost in a kayaking accident in 2001 and whose bodies have never been recovered.

Whilst I was taking the photograph, an older man came along and chatted to me and we both agreed that there are risks in life, but if we want to live our life to the full, we HAVE to take those risks - because if we don't then we wouldn't really live, we would just exist and often we wouldn't succeed in what we are doing.

Life is inherently risky.
There is only one big risk you should avoid at all costs,
and that is the risk of doing nothing.
Denis Waitley

My heart goes out to the families and friends of these six young men - they may never know I remembered their sons, and actually, that doesn't matter, but they have certainly made me grateful for my own two sons.

His loved ones are very precious to him
and he does not lightly let them die.
Psalm 116:15 : The Living Bible