Notices
Just a couple of notices and then something more serious:
- I'm pleased to tell you that the County Archaeologist has taken notice of our communication with him regarding the discovery of a number of pre-historic burial mounds in the local area. In the next few weeks he'll be visiting and I'll be taking him to a number of the sites discussed here in the last year or two.
- A reminder that there will be a presentation on the historical landscape and context of Lodge Park to the Northleach Historical Society on 6 May, at 7.30 pm in the Westwoods centre, Northleach. Non-members may attend for a small fee. I promise you will found out stuff about Lodge Park that no-one has ever told you before!
Finally, I feel I should mark the passing of our pal Tim Thorn. Tim has been a huge supporter of the Brook Group over many years. I first met him when I moved here a couple of decades ago and we chatted through a hedge (as one does in Sherborne!). He was a one of those characters who mixed good humour and seriousness in a delightful balance. Tim was a former fighter pilot, but other than that kept his remarkable service career pretty much to himself. He was in fact the holder of the Air Force Cross and a Fellow of the Royal Areonautical Society. Within the RAF he was known as "Tiger Tim" and for surviving 9 or 10 serious flight emergencies of various sorts, his coolness a thread through them all. He was a serious sportsman - cricket, rugby and represented his country at the Winter Olympics in 1968.
Tim took a detailed interest in the Brook from his terraced garden above the Broadwater - he knew the habits of the kingfishers and other avian species intimately, as one would expect from a fellow aviator. I remember him telling me of a pet jackdaw he had as a boy, that he trained to sit on his shoulder and come when called. Oddly I remember the tear that came to his eye as he told me of its death, hit by a car and how it upset him. I have a tear now as I write this.
I'm sure you will all join me in sending our love and support to Rosi. God bless you, Tim.
