Do pipe down! The talking bench that’s keeping the locals awake
MOST people looking for a bench are after a quiet rest.
Don’t expect that with this one – it starts talking to you about local history. And while that might be novel for some, it’s starting to grate with the locals.
Drunks and passers-by have got into the habit of using it in the small hours, leaving nearby residents of Coggeshall, Essex, sleep-deprived and frustrated.
One said: ‘All of the flats near the bench are woken. We can’t really hear it in the day time but that’s because of the traffic. It really doesn’t seem right that on a weekday at 1am it could wake everyone up at the push of a button.’
The main recording lasts for three minutes and gives a potted history covering nearly 2,000 years. It begins: ‘Welcome to Coggeshall and to our special listening bench.’ It goes on to describe how there is a nearby 2nd century AD road which was used by Roman legions on their way to suppress ‘unruly tribes’. Other recordings give details about the once-thriving tambour lace industry.
The bench is one of eight funded by Essex Record Office as part of a £277,000 project called ‘You Are Here’.
Users are supposed to press a button to start playing one of six recordings but they are quite sensitive and can be set off by people leaning back on them.
Essex Council yesterday hinted the bench might itself be consigned to history. A spokesman said: ‘We want our listening benches to enhance the neighbourhoods they are in, so obviously we don’t want anyone’s sleep to be interrupted.’