Thanks to Maxine for sharing this latest news from Newport Parish Council. Ed
Walkers along the Shide to Blackwater cycle track will now see a new plaque in continuing memory of the seismologist John Milne.
Newport Parish Council, in collaboration with the Landscape Group, has renewed and re sited a plaque damaged during grass-cutting last summer. The plaque gives details of a Hornbeam planted in 2008 by the Histree Project in continuing memory of John Milne and is in the same style as the interpretation board commissioned by the Parish Council in 2013 to mark the centenary of his death.
Replanted in 2008
The original Hornbeam was planted in the 1970s by the Japanese Ambassador and when it died of natural causes it was replaced in 2008 by the Histree Project and Gift to Nature. The re-siting of the plaque makes it more visible to all visitors to the area as it is now at eye level.
Dale Young of the Landscape Group was keen to work with the Parish Council to replace the plaque when it was inadvertently removed by a tractor cutter due to the low stone plinth being covered in grass.
An interesting piece of history
The Group have supplied and installed the new post and will ensure the area is hand-cut in the future to preserve the original 1970s plaque.
Cllr Geoff Lumley as parish councillor for the area said
“I am delighted we were able to reinstate the plaque, Newport Parish Council are keen to continue to commemorate the life and work of John Milne and this is a small but interesting piece of that history.”
Image: Cllr Geoff Lumley and Mr Dale Young from the Landscape Group
