Radio Suffolk – The Friendly Bench

3rd Feb 2020

Lyndsey Young of The Friendly Bench CIC speaks to Radio Suffolk’s Lesley Dolphin

When we were told the amazing news that our application for a Friendly Bench had been successful we were thrilled. We know from extensive research, and by chatting to local people, that a lot of us experience feelings of isolation or loneliness in our day.

Add to that traumas such as bereavement, divorce, drug related issues, mental and physical health problems, being new to the community etc, life can be incredibly hard.

If we don’t have someone that we can share our inner most thoughts and feelings with it can sometimes seem impossible to cope.



The idea behind The Friendly Bench CIC was the brainchild of Lyndsey Young, a working mum from Leicestershire who experienced first hand feeling lonely and recognised that there would be others in her community feeling a similar way and she decided she could do something about it.

The Friendly Bench is an integrated seating and planted area that is just beautiful. It is fully accessible and a place that anyone can visit and enjoy, perhaps see another friendly face, someone to chat with, even if it’s just to remark on the weather to begin with. Just that physical act of being outside and speaking to another human being can make all the difference to someones day.