Lord Lieutenant of Hampshire Mary Fagan, Mayor Gwen Richardson, Head Vivian Wheeler and Lorraine Huggett from Local Heritage Initiative formed the receiving the line to honour the NW students who worked with Richard Tanner, Chairman of NWSAD History Society in creating the Village Heritage Trail. On hand to perform the unveiling of the plinth and map marking the start of the trail was former villager, William Rathbone, son of the donor of Cuckoo Meadow.

Jenny Agass, Henry Barrington -White, Lucy Metcafe, Hannah Mills, Jordan Roddis-Moffatt, Hannah Smith, Clemancy White and Rachael Whiteside won the Under 11 Southeast Regional Award from Local Heritage Initiative for their work on the trail project. After receiving star medallions and certificates they looked on as the £500 prize from the Local Heritage Initiative was presented by Ms. Huggett to Mrs. Wheeler. The prize is being used to provide historical photographs, display boards and a digital camera to record local events for future archivists. The students also helped design trail leaflets which have been distributed through out the village. Geoffrey Mann accepted £250 from LHI on behalf of NWSAD as sponsors of the project.

NWSAD, the NW Village Trust and the school have been supported by funding from Awards for All and the Local Heritage Initiative(LHI), both arms of the Heritage Lottery Fund. LHI chose our trail project for their Regional Award while Awards for All is using our efforts as a model project to inspire others. Special thanks were extended to Matt Beale and Peter John from Hampshire County Council Footpaths, Sue Tapliss and Willis Museum as well as Barry Cole, builder of the plinth.

With the completion of the trail, trail leaflets and the publication of the colour booklet North Waltham Then and Now, the next stage of the project is set to begin in the autumn. Talking History hopes to gather the valuable recollections of villagers recorded in their own voices for posterity.

A large vote of appreciation goes to Richard Tanner who was the driving force behind this project. His enthusiasm and dedication won us the grants and inspired all who worked with him on this project. Thank You Richard!

Linda Sennitt July 2004.

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