With apologies, this event needs to be postponed until after Christmas.
We will keep you notified of the new date/time, with plenty of warning, and I hope that no-one is inconvenienced.
Yes, the date is 20 December...
Thanks to those who pointed out the error.
At last I can advise that the memorial seat for Stephen Thorpe will be dedicated on Friday, 20 November, 1pm. It's a busy time for many of you, but we would welcome you to come along if you can make it. We will also try and have it videoed - perhaps even on Facebook Live or YouTube.
Afterwards we will invite you back to the Tennis Club to have a cup of tea/coffee etc in Stephen's honour. As we will not know how many people will be attending, we would be so grateful if you could bring a plate.
We'll keep you updated if there's any changes to this but in the meantime, please mark the day and time in your calendar.
PS For those of you who don't know where the butterfly habitat is, if you walk to the furthest tennis court, you will see it.
Hi everyone
Many of you mention to me how much you miss Stephen and his presence and helpfulness on iNaturalist. Very sadly it appears that his attacker has very serious mental health issues, and the court case has now been postponed until 5 February 2025.
I was hoping that I could announce today that the installation of the seat was scheduled. At this stage it's taking a bit longer to get the paperwork completed... Making the bench is under way and I do thank Lily Duval for her help with selecting a few decorations for the back of it. We wanted flora and fauna that Stephen would relate to, but also simple enough images that would translate well into carvings, and easily identifiable by people who were not necessarily appreciative of nature. Adrian Steel from SteelWoodNZ is making and will engrave the bench.
The fundraiser closes on 26 November but I will keep everyone updated and hopefully we will have the bench installed before the end of December. Thanks again for your support.
It's been a while since you had an update. Today I met up with Adrian Steel (steelwoodnz.com) a very talented woodsmith who will not only make the seat but will engrave it with a message and some carving. He plans to make the seat out of redwood and engrave it as well. Sometimes he uses a lathe and other times pyrography...
We were lucky to catch up with him today at his stall at the Silverdale School Fair.
Progress... Thanks for your patience!
We have been talking with Council about the memorial seat and as plans develop, here's a video showing the proposed location in the Blockhouse Bay Recreational Reserve.
In the meantime, we would love to see photographs of examples of seats and park furniture you may have seen that have been installed along special themes. If you have photos or suggestions how we can acknowledge Stephen's work and passion in this memorial, please email them to me, jacqui@nzbutterflies.org.nz I would be very grateful.
Thank you so much for your donations and other support. It has been amazing.
Stephen's funeral service tomorrow (Monday) will be accessible on YouTube - here is the link:
https://m.youtube.com/live/oc0TDG3_Gx8?feature=share
Feel free to share.
The funeral is MONDAY, 2 September (not Tuesday as advised previously).
The good people at the Whau River Catchment Trust and the Blockhouse Bay Tennis Club are organising the funeral and celebration of Stephen's life to be held at the Tennis Club, 36 Rathlin Street at midday on Monday, 2 September. We hope to see many of you there.
