Todmorden: The King Stone!
A CROWS' member, Gerald King, died at the start of the Covid outbreak and although a plaque on a bench in Cornholme commemorates his name, family, friends, fellow CROWS and other environmental groups expressed a wish for a more permanent memorial. Consequently Mick C, Kasher and Frank H worked at the very end of Hallroyd Crescent on the strip of land (Tipside) that runs parallel to the river Calder. This is near to where Gerald lived and was one of the many areas that he tended.
The plan was straightforward: - receive a delivery of the memorial stone (with plaque affixed); dig a hole; put the aforementioned stone in it; back-fill then stand back and admire. Mmm!
Here's how it went:
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| 1. "This is a rather large stone, Mick, and this ground is very, very hard. It's going to be a long session!" |
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| 2. "We've gone down the depth of a spade blade. Mmm! We need to go down a whole spade's length!" |
By rotating the tasks of using the heavy bar to loosen the ground (Frank), digging with the spade (Mick) and scooping out the spoil (Kasher) the work progressed. There were many passers-by. Much interest was shown and some useful technical help was provided. Many thanks. A significant number either knew Gerald or the groups with which he volunteered.
The excavation was somewhat harder than we had bargained for and was temporarily disrupted by a torrential downpour. Manoeuvring the 125 kg stone from the horizontal to the vertical so that it dropped neatly into the hole had to be a 'right first time' action . . . fortunately it was! Phew!
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| 3. "Well done, Mick but you need a slightly longer arm!" |
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| 4. "It's in . . . and it's not coming out!" |
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| 5. Time to stand back and admire, but also to reflect on Gerald's contribution to TRIG (Todmorden Riverside Improvement Group) |
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| 6. Gerald King 21 Dec 1938 - 7 March 2020 "A friend of the countryside and a lover of poetry." |
The stone and plaque were funded by donations from the many who knew Gerald. Thank you.
