Coming back to reality, after one week of being completely out of touch with that reality, brings home to me how the personal drive and enthusiasm of a small group of people can achieve so much so quickly, and provide such an interesting story for the community to tell.
As a most reluctant absentee when so much was happening on the ground, and as chairman of such a worthwhile enterprise, I feel deeply indebted to all of those who provided such an outstanding contribution both personally and through their teams. The planning leading to the extremely hard work on the hill, the landowner collaboration, the photographic recording of all aspects of the work, the PR through the local media, and the development of our dedicated website record, are all most impressive and a real credit to those responsible.
I will today be writing to express our gratitude to those responsible for the organisations who have been so helpful to us in this venture, and to express the hope that that support may continue to be available to us in one form or another in the future. We are still at an early stage on a long journey – and time is not on our side if I am to be in a position to get back in touch with HRH Prince Charles’ office early in the new year.
By that time we should not only have completely cleared the scalpings, but will also need to be well on the way to stabilising whatever surface we decide is appropriate and to have the delineation of the monument edge well in hand. That all provides an undoubted challenge for all of us, but one that I am certain we will overcome, particularly with the help of those who have been so helpful in this community venture thus far.