A MAN has achieved his ‘dream’ of installing a talking bench in Kilwinning, as a way of supporting people suffering from mental health issues.

Robert Telford from Ardrossan came up with the idea for the bench, which has now been placed in Eglinton Country Park.

After a month of planning the bench was finally installed, and was built and donated for free by the Men’s Shed group in Bourtreehill.

This project was especially important to Robert, after his nephew took his own life in the same park 10 years ago.

Multiple members of Fit Ayrshire Dads supported the idea from the beginning (Image: Robert Telford) He said: “It’s not just my nephew, it’s been too many people, the suicide rates are frightening, and we want to try to fix that. If we help one person, it’s a success.

"It’s for anyone who wants to sit on it, not just men. We want men, women, anybody to use it.”

The whole process has been supported by Fit Ayrshire Dads, which Robert is a member of, and over the years they have created a safe environment for men who have physical and health problems, with over 3,500 current members.

Many people were crucial to the bench’s creation, such as fellow Fit Ayrshire Dad members Davie Niven and Scott Davidson, the Men’s Shed in Irvine, and Amanda Downie who is a head ranger at the park.

In the beginning they considered calling it the ‘chat it out bench’ and ‘the talking bench of North Ayrshire’ before settling on just ‘the talking bench’.

Robert has big plans to expand the bench idea across the rest of Ayrshire (Image: Robert Telford) They now have plans to expand their project across Ayrshire and want to install more talking benches in Ayr’s Rozelle Park and Dean Park in Kilmarnock.

He continued: “Every park you go to, there’s benches there no matter where you look or where you walk, but this is unique.

"Once we get things in place, we’ll be communicating with various parks to see when and where we can do it.”

“We don’t have anything like this in Ayrshire. A talking bench for me is a dream that I had, and now that we've done it and I'm hugely proud. 

"Thankfully it’s not taken as long as we thought it would take and all the jigsaw pieces were able to come together.”

Alongside this, they are also going to add a plaque onto one arm of the bench with a QR code that links directly to mental health services and other helplines for those who may be struggling or in need of support.