A teen is proud to unveil a bench that is designed to help people at their lowest moment, in memory of her mother who died by suicide. Mary Hallett’s mum Emma Ceefe sadly died in August 2024, leaving family members shocked with unanswered questions as they thought she was “in a good place”.
Mary, 16, has worked with Legends on the Bench to fundraise for a permanent installation of a ‘suicide prevention bench’ at Hull Marina which aims to help others in crisis. “You never know with people. You can’t really tell what’s going on in someone’s head,” Mary said.
Mary said her mum had previously had addiction problems and had struggled “all her life”, but was sober for years before she took her own life. “She’d worked really hard but had struggles with her mental health. Quite suddenly, out of the blue, in August 2024, she took her own life, which was a shock because everyone thought she was in a good place.”
Emma was 47 when she died, leaving behind her four children Joe, Heidi, George and Mary. Mary remembers her mum for her kindness and willingness to help others. She was a regular volunteer at soup kitchens and helped out charities that had provided her with aid in her low times in her native Birmingham.
Mary, who was born in Chester but lives in Hull, where her dad is from, said: “She was just an amazing person, she would do anything for anyone. Just really selfless. She was really funny, she had a great sense of humour. She was really thoughtful and empathetic, she didn’t have a bad bone in her body. She had struggles with her mental health but she worked really, really hard. When I look back, and even before she had me, she was told she’d never be in a good place. She’d always be in and out of facilities. I look back now and she was just a normal mum and it must’ve been so difficult for her.”
After she died Mary was lacking a place to go to remember her mum. “It was a shock,” she said. “She was cremated so there was nowhere to go. I heard about Legends on the Bench when a bench was put in in Hessle near the bridge. It was something I’d never seen anything like before. They are called ‘suicide prevention benches’, and you can get them dedicated to people. I thought it would be something in memory of my mum, and I was struggling and had nowhere to go. I started looking into it and I got in touch with the charity, then thought about something to do to raise the money. Through November I decided to run – I did 120 miles through the month.”
Mary’s donations surpassed the amount needed for the bench. She chose Hull Marina because it’s a place with heavy foot traffic and somewhere her mum liked to go. She said Emma would be proud to have a bench in her memory that can help others in need.
“She used to help people and did a lot of fundraising, so it’s something she would’ve liked as well,” Mary said. “She did a lot of charity work. I’ve been lucky enough to be able to put it on the marina, because my mum liked it there as well. It’s quite peaceful, and gets busy in the summer. You want a lot of people seeing it, that’s the whole point of it.”
The benches light up in the dark and stand out as a safe place to go. Mary said they represent a “light in the darkness” and the benches have suicide prevention helplines on them. QR codes will tell Emma’s story and her name will also be displayed on the bench.
“The good thing about the benches is they make people stop, pause and reflect. I think people just get an illness and when people are going to do it, they are in that mindset. But now they might just stop and think ‘I’ll call one of the numbers’.”
The unveiling takes place at Hull Marina on Friday from 12pm, where Mary is due to be joined by Dean Windass and the Deputy Lord Mayor.
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