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A Memorial for Stephen Thorpe

  • Thank you once again!

      25 March 2025
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    Thank you to all those who came to the commemoration of Stephen's seat.

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  • The bench is beautiful.

      18 March 2025
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    I wanted to share with you this photo of Stephen's seat, and to thank all of the people and organisations that made this happen, including the donors and Adrian Steele, Auckland Council, Programmed and Whau Local Board and also the Blockhouse Bay Tennis Club.

    I will also put photos and hopefully a video on the FB page of the Blockhouse Bay Recreational Reserve Butterfly Habitat.

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  • At last!

      6 March 2025
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    Hi there - Stephen's memorial seat will be blessed on Tuesday, 18 March at 11am. We'd love to see you there!

    Please spread the word with others and thanks for your patience.

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  • An update... of sorts

      5 February 2025

    Greetings for 2025!

    I am sorry about the delays regarding the installation of Stephen's bench. The bench, beautifully inscribed, was delivered before Christmas but was found to have been damaged in transit. And the question was: Was it going to be robust enough to stand up to a park situation?

    Then of course Christmas and the summer holidays intervened but I'm now liaising with Council on sorting this out. I do hope I can send out another positive update soon.

    I'm sure that if Stephen was here with us he would be encouraging you to vote in the "Bug of the Year" Contest, if you haven't done so already.

    I hope to be back in touch very soon with good news.

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  • 20 December POSTPONED - dedication of the bench for Stephen Thorpe

      12 December 2024

    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.

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  • 20 December (not November) - apologies.

      9 December 2024

    Yes, the date is 20 December...

    Thanks to those who pointed out the error.

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  • Friday, 20 November, 1pm at the butterfly habitat

      9 December 2024

    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.

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  • November Progress Report

      20 November 2024

    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.

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  • October Update!

      19 October 2024
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    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!

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  • Location of the memorial seat

      6 September 2024

    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.

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  • Date/time of funeral

      29 August 2024

    The funeral is MONDAY, 2 September (not Tuesday as advised previously).

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  • Funeral arrangements

      29 August 2024

    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.

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