A fond farewell to Little Doward Champion Ray Whiley from his successor, Jim Handley.
 
Last autumn saw Ray Whiley leading his last walk around Little Doward. He has been the Champion for this site since the Champions sites were introduced back in 2011. Having lived all his life in the local area Ray has an unrivalled fount of background knowledge, of which geology is only one part. So when he led this walk as part of the Ross walking festival last autumn, the 20 or so walkers not only got some exercise but were given a unique blend of geology, archaeology, local history, botany and folklore. I was quite new to this area having moved from Malvern to Monmouth in July 2015.
 
When I saw the note in the EHT Spring 2016 Newsletter asking for some help for Ray, I disobeyed the rule of ‘never volunteer! The result was that I had the delight of trying to keep up with Ray both physically – well he does have 2 home made walking poles – and in his command of facts and background to do with Little Doward. I must have come up with some of the right answers to questions like ‘Why are the capping stones on that magnificent dry stone wall that shape?’ as we both got on well and he has allowed me to take over the Champions lead for Little Doward. I will certainly invite him back to any events I organise if only to hear the welcome extra verbal contributions from the back row.
 
Meanwhile as a memory of that last walk I asked Ray to sit on the seat which he had made, and which now sits proudly at the highest point of Little Doward with a magnificent view eastwards over the Forest of Dean. The image says it all. Thank you Ray for making my volunteering here so
enjoyable.
 
Jim Handley, February 2017.

Ray takes a well-earned rest on his ‘Champions’ bench