Des Hollier R.I.P. 

One of our founder members, Des Hollier, suffered what we believe to have been a cardiac arrest on Friday the 26th March 2010 and died.

Despite CPR, and a very quick response from the paramedics, both car and helicopter, we were unable to revive him. Des was extremely supportive of the Grace and Flavour project and of many other projects in the village. He will be very sadly missed.

Des was clearing the central path of the Garden and excited to see that, under the 40 or so years of accumulated soil, it was made of asphalt and even had a camber (since then we have discovered a drainage system too). He did such a great job that we were all determined to come up to his standard when we cleared the remainder.

We have named the central path Hollier Path in his memory. It is lined with the few remaining apple trees of the original garden but in time we will fill in all the gaps with new fruit trees. It will be a beautiful and restful place to walk especially in the spring. It will also be a great place to go scrumping. As Pete, our Head Gardener says, "I think Des would like that".

Des was highly regarded and deeply respected in these villages and beyond. Our first day simply could not have been worse, and had Pete not made us pick up our tools and start again that very afternoon, we would have found it difficult to start again at all. Pete's view on that day was that Des would have wanted us to get going on this project, and do a good job of it.

Thanks Des.