At Marmax we have great pride in our high quality 100% plastic recycled products, so when we hear from someone with the same enthusiasm for benches, we simply cannot ignore them.  Meet George, the boy with ambition and a heart of gold.

George Mowatt is a 9-year-old student at Grove C E Primary School in Oxfordshire. Grove C E Primary School were having problems with their previous picnic tables and needed new plastic ones, but their fundraising wasn’t going to plan. Being brave and courageous George took to his mother’s email to do everything he could to help his school get the benches they deserve.

This is what George wrote to us:

“Hello, My Name is George Mowatt am I am 9 years old. My School (Grove C E Primary School in Oxfordshire) is trying to raise money so they can replace 10 old broken picnic tables with new plastic ones. Me and my classmates use these old picnics tables to eat our lunch and would love to have new ones which would be much safer and more enjoyable as I hate sitting inside to eat my lunch.
I am going to contact a few companies asking if they were nice enough to help us out by replacing one for free. I know this is a bit cheeky, but my Mum says if you don’t ask you don’t get.
I really hope you can help but no worries if you can’t. Have a good day. George Mowatt (this is my mum’s email)”

If you get an amazing email like that from a 9-year-old student, you must respond.

“Hello George, I agree with your mum. If you don’t ask you don’t get. So well done for asking. The only problem now is everyone is asking, and we are struggling to keep everyone happy! I would love to offer you a bench for free. How about I give you the free bench and you get your mum and teachers to pay for the other 9 benches?”

Making a compromise in hopes it would all work out didn’t seem to be the case as George’s mum replied: “Hi Matthew, this is George’s mum. George will be pleased he got a kind reply. The fundraising for the picnic tables isn’t going very well hence George’s email, so at the moment the school isn’t in any place to buy 9 at the moment but thank you for the gesture.”

We dug deep. We couldn’t let George not be rewarded for his bravery in asking. After a vote, whereupon we all agreed that a nine year old should have his wish, Marmax sent over an Orange Junior Reston Seat for free to support George and his fellow students!

Georges Mother replied, “George has said he really enjoys sitting on it at break time when he can as it’s so popular and everyone loves the colour.”

This isn’t something we will always be able to do, but as a supplier of rot and corrosion free benches to schools since we opened in 1998, it’s lovely to be able to give something back. We hope you enjoy your lunchtime picnics for a long time to come, George!