The John Denver Bench update 18/05/2006

Working on the concrete base Shuttering

The Country Roads Walk 2006 at Rockingham Forest May 20th

Members of Friends of John Denver UK at the start of the Country Roads Walk at the Rockingham Forest Northamptonshire.

A BIG THANK YOU to all those who came on the Country Roads Walk on Saturday May 20th. We all had a great day of friendship, exercise and fresh air after 5 miles in the beautiful Rockingham Forest, Northamptonshire. (Emma and Daisy loved it) We were very lucky not to get wet after the forecast had given the day a washout. It was quite warm and we had a few periods of blue skies and sunshine, John must have been watching over us all.
It was great to be out in the countryside, enjoying nature as John did. We talked about Aspen and Colorado, sang some of his songs and of course remembered John's life.
On the walk around the forest we saw Red Kites and Buzzards soaring overhead and also many other birds. We had our picnic at the village of Kings Cliffe at the half way point. The day was finished off by seeing the first Red Kite chick being hatched from the live cctv pictures of the Red Kite nest at the RSPB Lodge. The wardens asked us to name the youngster, so we called it John if a male bird and Joanne if female. I should have been a bit quicker in thinking about the name and said John or Annie? It will be 4-5 weeks before they know what sex the chick is. They have to climb up the tree and check the health of the youngest e.g. weigh & measure it, and also take blood samples for health checks, DNA and determine the sex.
We would like to thank Pat and Graham for suggesting this walk and being the walk support team with providing transport, food and hot tea at the lunch time picnic.
Don't forget there is another walk planned on Saturday July 1st at Haworth, Yorkshire, for 6 miles on the Railway Children walk. All details and maps etc, are on our Country Roads Walks 2006 page.
Please e-mail us if you want to come on July 1st, so we have some idea how many will be on the walk and we don't leave any body at the car park etc, thank you.
Please do not hesitate to contact us if you want any more information or help for the Haworth walk.
Thank you for your support, looking forward to seeing you in July.
John Denver will NEVER be forgotten.

The John Denver Bench latest update 06/06/2006

We have been out in the Dersingham Bog Nature Reserve this week & have installed the concrete base for the JD bench. Over the spring bank holiday weekend, volunteers from Cambridge fabricated a willow wood fence around one side of the bench site. Please see the photo’s below of our progress. The base is now ready for the bench to be installed. Hopefully this Thursday or Friday (8th/9th June) the bench will be brought out & fixed down to the base. After touching up the wood preservative, clear & tidy the area around the bench, it will be finished & ready to used.