I imagine most people reading this are friends and family of the wonderful William Yates but if not, he was firstly a hugely loved son, brother and uncle to the extended Yates family in Darwen, in Lancashire. He was also a brilliant, loving, handsome, funny, clever, talented, strong, energetic, lazy, loyal, hard working, trustworthy and all round lovely human being. A best friend to countless people, and among many things, a man who I was immensely lucky to have as a friend and part of my family. He was someone I was incredibly proud to introduce to anyone because he would instantly warm to people and would bend over backwards to make them feel comfortable.

Despite all these lovely things, he had problems with anxiety and depression which in typical Billy style, he mastered by reading everything about it until he knew exactly what was going on in his head. However, in May 2017 it finally got the better of him and he died by suicide at home. It has been nearly 18 months now since we lost this wonderful man who has left such a massive void in a lot of peoples lives. Which is the reason that this is here.

Over the last year or so, when I’m out and about, I often find myself heading for Putney, slowly passing Bill’s old flat and remembering all the stupid, funny evenings that ended up there. Then I'll stop down by the river on Putney Embankment for a coffee and sit on one of the benches down there and stare out at the water for half an hour or so and reflect a bit (it turns out I'm not the only one). I’m nearly always on the same bench outside the Dukes Head because it's the first one I come to when I drop off the Lower Richmond road. All of which is fine, but thought it might be nice to have one dedicated to Yatesface himself. Even though I've been agonising over it for a while (because I keep thinking about him cringing at it) I’ve spoken to a few other people who agreed that it’d be a nice idea too.

I’ve been chatting with Wandsworth Council and have been told that we have permission to put a bench pretty much anywhere along the embankment. I thought near the Dukes Head was a good spot because it's up near the busy end of Putney and easy to get a frothy topped drink. I’m also aware that it is equally nice further along where it is much quieter; open to suggestion. Also, we’d need a plaque engraved with some nice words on it, also open to ideas...

Wandsworth have sent me a quote for £2,241.36 to supply and install a new bench, which will have to be similar to the others down there, and £56.64 for a blank brass plaque, which in total is £2,298 incl VAT. The council policy is that the bench would be installed as a donation to the council and it will be maintained by them under their normal street cleaning programme (but I reckon we could personalise it a bit).

So £2,300.00 is the target amount, which I'm sure will be easily reached, and anything over that will go to suicide prevention charities like Maytree and The Tomorrow Project.

Many thanks and lots of love to you all xxxx