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This page is for the latest details of The Country Roads Walks & The John Denver Bench

Both walks are all organised and in hand etc, we’ve had quite a few people register for the events. Two weeks before each walk we will send out e-mails to ask & confirm exactly who will be coming on that day. It will ensure we have the correct numbers and prevent leaving anyone at the starting car park. We will also give out our mobile number.

Thank you for your support, we are looking forward to another great John Denver friendship day.

One of our FoJD members, Veronica Watson, is taking part in a trek in the Himalayas in October/November 2006 for Whizz Kidz.

Please read what Veronica has said.

Whizz-Kidz is a charity that changes disabled children’s lives – literally overnight.

They provide customised mobility equipment, such as wheelchairs and tricycles, plus training and advice and, in this way, give these children something even more important – the independence to live a life of freedom.

So far, Whizz-Kidz has helped around 4,350 children, but there are still over 70,000

in the UK who could benefit significantly from their help.

I know how much John Denver loved children, so partly as a personal memorial to him, I have undertaken the challenge of an Indian Himalayas trek in Oct/Nov this year to raise vital funds to help some of these disabled children. I need to raise at least £2675 for the charity, and get myself fit enough to be able to do it! No mean feat!

Any donations would be most appreciated and would bring a disabled child closer to enjoying the kind of freedom most of us take for granted.

For any further information, I can be e-mailed, or people are welcome to visit the following sites:

www.veronika.supanet.com

www.bmycharity.com/veronika

www.justgiving.com/veronika

If anyone is willing to sponsor me for the Rockingham Forest walk, I would be very grateful.

All proceeds would, of course, go to Whizz-Kidz.

E-mail Veronica at

vandanjay@yahoo.co.uk

The John Denver Bench Update

Dated 31/03/2006

At last we have been given the go-ahead to install the John Denver Bench at the English Nature Reserve in Norfolk. The bench has been picked up from Sandringham Saw Mills for £88.12p, and taken back to the site yard at Dersingham bog for safe keeping. Val & I have put two coats of wood preservative on it & taken measurements for the base & the JD plaque. We hope to install the base & the bench sometime in April and of course the plaque. To finish the job off, Ashley Murray the site manager, has agreed to put post & rail around the back & to one side of the bench. He may also install a viewing platform close by, to look over the nature reserve.

Once all the work has been completed, the idea is then to have a get together of FoJD members & have a dedication day at the reserve. It will consist of a gathering around the bench & a picnic. Then one of the English Nature managers will lead a walk & information talk around the reserve. Perhaps in the evening we can go to a local pub for a meal.

 We will suggest a couple of dates soon.

Again thank you for all your support.

Paul presenting the cheque for the JD Bench to English Nature Manager, Ashley Murray.

Working on the JD Bench

The latest John Denver Bench details

Dated 20/04/2006

At the moment the bench is sitting in the site yard with having two good coats of wood preservative on it & the 4 fixing holes have been drilled in the bottom spars. We've found some fixing bolts & plates & the 6 bags of concrete have been bought & are in a dry place at the yard. The brass plaque was ordered yesterday, from an engraving firm at Stockton on Tees, on the internet. It was a good price after shopping around & the plates they made looked really good. The link for their site if you want a look is:-

www.identitag.co.uk/Signs/index.htm

 It may be here next week, if so I will bring it to Denver Day with me.

We are hoping to go down this Saturday, April 22nd, to the site yard to make the wood shuttering for the base. I have taken measurements & done a drawing already, so this will save a bit of time on Saturday. If things go well & we have the time & weather permitting we will go into the reserve, & dig out the base foundations & put the concrete down. We will leave 4 holes for the fixing bolts etc.

Ashley has asked use not to install the bench until the 27/28th of May. On that weekend a group of volunteers are coming from Cambridge to install a path, & post & rail to the bench. This idea of Ashley’s will finish the bench area off & I think will enhance the job we are doing. The bench is being sited on the old sea cliffs at the top of some wooden steps. The idea of the post & rail, & the path, is to stop visitors wandering about & taking short cuts to the bench, to protect the heather & ground nesting birds etc.

This delay will gives us plenty of time to finish the base off & screw the brass plaque to the bench. All that will remain is on the 27/28th May, we will take the bench out to the reserve, place it on the base, & concrete the fixing bolts into the holes. Job Done.

Below is a copy of the expenses so far for the JD bench, If you what a copy please ask. I am hoping we have got everything for the installation now, but we may need some more concrete for the base, just have to wait & see how the base construction goes. We will not have to pay anything out for labour cost because Val & I are doing all that. Also we will be getting a bit of help form the volunteers as well. Transport of the bench, paint brushes, gloves, fixing bolts, wood for the base shuttering, screws & nails etc, tools & of course tea & coffee have been provided by Ashley, the site manager & the lads at English Nature reserve, which has been a great help.

John Denver Bench in Norfolk Expenses

Donation from FoJD =   £150.00

Other Donations =            £38.50

Total Donations =            £188.50

Purchase of bench =        £88.12

Wood preservative =          £9.39

Concrete for base =          £36.27

Brass plaque =                 £50.46

Labour costs =                 £00.00

Total purchases =            £184.24

Total remaining =                £4.26

Rounding up donation =     £5.74

Total =                                  £10.00

               Donation to a local                                         Alzheimer’s Charity =          £10.00

Balance =                              £00.00

 Thank you for your support.

The John Denver Bench Update

Dated 27/04/2006

Construction of the concrete base shuttering

Last Updated 27/04/2006