On Wednesday November 25th, a very special event was held in Church Wood. It was a surprise retirement party for Peter Curd, who has been a volunteer in the woods for 13 years - most of that working three days a week. He’s not retired completely as he is still working for the RSPB, collecting money for pin badges and in buckets outside supermarkets (last year alone he collected £2,161 in this way), but due to health problems has had to give up the heavy work stacking logs and path-clearing at the age of nearly 79.
The party was organised by Nick Covarr and not only the current volunteers were invited, but also some past workers (one of whom came all the way from London for the day) and other people from the local group who had known Peter for a long time. There was a barbecue with sausages and jacket potatoes and lots of other food as well, including 3 large trifles made by Chris Sproul, which deserve a special mention!
We were all delighted that Peter didn’t suspect a thing, having just been told that it was an end-of-year event, at which he was happy to join in and start the fires. After we’d all eaten our fill, Michael Walter called Peter over and he and Nick made a short speech each about how much Peter had done over the years and how much it was all appreciated. He was then presented with a large limited edition print of a German luftwaffe plane, a Jagdgeschwader 26 Schlageter, as he is an aircraft buff. He was also given a book of photos of work in the woods taken over the last few years by Dave Smith.
Below are some photos of the event: