May 2025
Here’s an uplifting story that I hope brings smiles to your faces, as it does to mine.
At the Memorial service for Mary Ivens held in November 2023, the idea arose of placing a commemorative bench in the garden of Refugio Gaucelmo, the pilgrim hostel that Mary and her husband Walter did so much to create. I’m the friend who actually lives closest to it, so finding someone to make the bench tacitly fell to me. Once Spring 2024 came, I was phoning around the district, asking everyone I knew for guidance. A few names arose, then one man whose work I went to see and of which I sent a few photos to Mary’s family. Luckily we all agreed in liking one piece more than any of the others, so we asked the craftsman to give us a price and sat back to wait. His price, alas, was more than twice the budget, so we gently withdrew, and as of the end of July, were back to square one.
One morning soon after, I was telling this tale of woe to a friend, Jose (Pepe) Espin, over coffee, and showed him the photograph of the bench we’d liked. He studied it, and suddenly said ‘I could make something very similar to that, perhaps even nicer’. It turned out that he’d learned carpentry at his father’s knee. ‘Really’, he said, seeing my surprised expression, ‘I’d enjoy doing it: I love helping out. I’ll settle for the cost of the timber - and I’ll go to the sawmill and choose it myself’. I was touched and delighted by such a generous offer. We agreed that the bench would be ready by late October, spend the winter in Pepe’s workshop to allow for leisurely varnishing, and be taken to Rabanal in the Spring, to be dedicated and placed in the garden for pilgrims to enjoy.
That was how, on the morning of Saturday, 3 May, five members of the Ivens family coming from England, friends from various parts of Spain, and Pepe Espin’s large car with the bench safely stowed, converged on Rabanal del Camino. As we saw when the finished object was finally placed in the spot chosen for it, the bench is splendid, fashioned in aged pine and cherry in a traditional rustic style. Pepe added the typically Galician finials as a reminder of its provenance. Joining us at the simple ceremony in Refugio Gaucelmo’s garden were the current volunteer wardens, two of the monks from the monastery next door, and members of the local ‘Amigos del Camino’. The rain held off as Mary and Walter were remembered aloud by us all, and the bench blessed and dedicated. Then Pepe, the hero of the hour, was congratulated and profusely thanked by the Ivens’ son Robert, replying only that ‘it’s been my pleasure’, and thanking Robert and the family for the opportunity. The photo of him seated on the bench is worth any number of words.
Another beautiful memory for the rucksack, no?