Alan Catheral, sadly, passed away in January this year. Our ECR committee recognised a wish of our members to provide some permanent recognition of Alan for his enthusiastic and comprehensive contribution to the affairs of East Cheshire Ramblers Group, both in the countryside and management. Quoting from our Chairman Jane Gay “Alan has been a member of ECR since 1985. He was an extremely strong long walker and walk leader who enjoyed the mountains. He particularly enjoyed walking with other members of ECR and chatting to them about the countryside and his latest projects. He was passionate about improving access for walkers.”
It was agreed that Poynton-with-Worth FP 27, centred at SJ 9470 8270 between Elm Wood and Ben’s Wood would be improved, and a plaque in memory of Alan would be posted there. A kissing gate and finger post would be erected at the path’s north-eastern end, a waymarker post erected at an intervisible more southerly spot. At the southern section by the canal, hawthorn trees would be cut back to improve the path’s accessibility. At the south end, plastic fingers would be restored to an existing finger post, and its ground anchorage made more firm. This post is adjacent to a footbridge leading to Hagg Farm and Poynton Coppice.
Eight members of our ECR FP Projects Team assembled on site in July and carried out this work to everybody’s satisfaction. Assembling and placing the kissing gate……..
Roger Fielding opening fence, Roger Jubb assembling gate 
Excavations for the gate 
Brian Richardson, Roger Jubb, Nick Wild assembling gate 
Final setting to line and level
Clearance of hawthorn tree obstructions on the path by the Canal……….
Janet Allan, Ken Hobbs, Adrian Flinn 
A finger post was erected by the gate, and the fence meshed to the gate……..
Incidentally, we have adopted a protective system for posts against rotting, whereby a bituthene sleeve is wrapped around the post at its most vulnerable rotting zone (100 mm above, and 250 mm below ground level), melted and rolled onto the wood………
A waymarker post was placed midway………..and the bridgeside finger post was refurbished……..
Roger Jubb, Nick Wild, Roger Fielding 
Ken Hobbs, Ian Wasson
Soon after, a site visit was made to attach the plaque to the new finger post……
My thanks go to Janet Allan, Roger Fielding, Adrian Flinn, Ken Hobbs, Roger Jubb, Ian Wasson and Nick Wild. They contributed to a team total of more than 39 hours of work, excluding breaks.
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