A MEMORIAL bench to York schoolgirl Kate Rough has been unveiled in the city’s Museum Gardens - and a beautiful stained glass window was also presented to her overwhelmed parents.

A small group of friends and family gathered yesterday in the ‘edible garden’ at the back of York Art Gallery for a moving ceremony, conducted by the Reverend Matthew Porter of St Michael le Belfrey Church.

 

York Press:

The wooden bench is inscribed with the words: “Katie Sharon Rough loved feeding the squirrels and birds..2009/2017.”

Katie, seven, was found with fatal knife wounds in January, with a 15-year-old girl due to go on trial for her murder next month.

The specially commissioned window, created by Mayre Maguine of the York Glaziers Trust, assisted by Monika Adamczak, features a squirrel, rainbow, butterflies and seven floating dandelion clocks.

It also features the words inscribed on the glass:”A small life walked by leaving footprints in our hearts forever. Katie, this is no perfect world but you gave it a little bit more colour.”

Katie’s mother Alison said she had loved visiting Museum Gardens and seeing the wildlife. She said the window was a complete surprise, and she planned to hang it in a special place at home.

“Thank you so much for all the support we have had from the community, but especially our families, Katie’s grandparents,” she said. We couldn’t have picked a better spot for Katie’s bench. She loved feeding the squirrels....She loved rolling down the hills. But she also liked to be peaceful sometimes and this is a peaceful place, and every time we come here we will think just how perfect it is for her and how fitting a tribute it is.”

Mr Porter asked the family to lay their hands on the bench while he said a prayer: “In these Museum Gardens where Katie loved to be, with the animals, and nature and outdoors, we come to give thanks for her and to dedicate this bench to her memory.

“We thank God for Katie’s life, cut short as it was, and we are grateful for this bench, given for us to remember her.”