The Traditional Fisherman's Forum

Well, not knowing where Weirwood was or is or indeed what it is - I goggled it. Quite an exclusive Carp syndicate, Predator syndicate and club water and chargeable activities of many other kinds - of which it states:

The Syndicate
Although the reservoir is very large the number of syndicate members is limited to 70. The cost to join is £350 per year. Your membership runs for a full 12 months from your join date.

There are also charges for canoe's, ferries etc. See - https://www.weirwoodcarpandcoarsefishery.com/

Well not knowing the exact location of the seat and its association with the Reservoir owners, it seems a shame to my mind, taking it in totality of, an income of at least £25,000 - £30,000 if not £50,000 that £20 couldn't be expended each year by them to maintain the seat. Light trim of the Brambles each year and a coat of preservative every 5 years - would keep Harvey Torbett happy

So Yes - agree the power of the Internet is a good thing. Whilst I applaud the OP original offer the Res Owners ought to give a commitment to the renovation of this for the benefit of all who use the area.

Well done to the family for originally donating the seat.

Hope that this is taken as a negative post - just trying to get some balance on it.

OPPS - just noticed that the last line is incorrect - should say "Hope that this is NOT taken as a negative post" added 5/02/2019

Interesting post Mal, I bet info will soon be coming your way, Weirwood was created by damming the Upper Medway in ? so would be interesting if HT fished the river there before the Res was created. I walked across the Res in the winter of 1963 when the ice was super thick, I also fished the river above the Res the right...side of the perimeter fence about the same time when the stocked trout would run upstream in an attempt to spawn, on one occasion I had over 20 trout and some nice roach the water always had a clay like tinge and worm always worked well. I last drove over the upstream bridge where the inlet is about 20 years ago and the banks where I used to fish were overgrown and little trees were now mature. A nice bit of Sussex.

I have sent the syndicate an enquiry on their site asking if there are any plans in place to preserve the bench. You never know they may have something already in place.

OOps made a mistake in my last post - corrected - missed out NOT

Through Mark, I have received this email from Cindy ... Harvey's daughter ... which I hope may be of interest.

"Harvey Torbett's memorial bench at Weir Wood

I never did update this thread with the outcome of Dad's Bench at Weirwood

Mal put me in touch with the man who had found Dad's bench covered over with brambles etc. He's Darren Sinden, who lives locally to Weir Wood, and I got in touch. He seems to be the ground keeper there and has something to do with the private fishing club that's located at Weir Wood now. He said the bench was still sound despite the years of neglect and he'd like to renovate it with our permission. I asked around my family first to see if anyone felt strongly that we should bring the bench back within the family again as none of us actually have visited Weir Wood for years (and now that the ground is private we can't anyway).

The general consensus was that Mum put it at Weir Wood for a reason, because Dad loved it there and so that was where it should stay.

We were all willing to contribute towards the costs and efforts of refurbing the bench but Darren said he'd really love to do it and it wouldn't cost him much in materials etc. I got the impression he really wanted to do it as a personal project to see if he could 'bring it back to life'. He moved the bench by boat from where it had resided the past 25 years or so and about a month later he sent me these pics of it beautifully restored. He told me that its original location is now quite a remote area of the lake that is difficult to access. He did a beautiful job and then put it in an area called 'the beach' which provides a nice resting point for anglers and has a nice view of the lake. It sounds a perfect place and just what Dad would have loved.

I offered again to pay the costs but Darren said he'd enjoyed it and declined any money! So I said I would pay by doing a good deed for someone else. Which I did that week by donating to a good cause that made a personal difference to someone else's life.
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Darren was an absolute star; he's done an absolutely wonderful job and the bench now looks beautiful and it's in a place where it will be looked after by Darren and it's accessible and hopefully enjoyed by people who fish at Weir Wood.

Nice to know what lovely people there are in the world!"

Hats off to Darren ... as you will see in the photographs he has done a remarkable job on the restoration. Thanks to all on the TFF who took an interest.

Fantastic - community working together

I used to fish Weir Wood way back, in the late 60s I think. Granddad is buried nearby, Forest Row.

What a lovely update Mal.

What an uplifting tale, so many helping each other out. Mal, you must feel a massive sense of pride and quite rightly so. A gold star effort all around.

Dave Burr wrote: ↑Mon Apr 19, 2021 7:02 pm What an uplifting tale, so many helping each other out. Mal, you must feel a massive sense of pride and quite rightly so. A gold star effort all around.

All I did was bring the right people together !!! But the result must have Harvey smiling !!!