The Kinver Edge Committee is sad to announce the death of Chairman John Sharkey.
As a Geographer John had a great love of places and people. He loved his family and was loyal to friends.
John loved to travel, especially to more unusual holiday destinations, and had great respect for the different landscapes he experienced around the world. Some of his favourite places however were closer to home, namely the Welsh mountains, the rolling Hills of Shropshire, and of course Kinver Edge where the beauty of the environment and people are very closely linked.
John joined Kinver Edge Committee, having been recruited by Chairman Sue Wright in 1996, to explore the potential of working with local schools to develop new educational projects. He was the ideal person for this role. Using his contacts and experience of teaching Geography at Edgecliffe, and following consultation and planning, he produced an educational programme that was accepted, and specialist volunteers recruited to implement his plan.This initiative proved highly successful and remains so to this day.
In May 2017 an additional 200 acres of land was transferred to the National Trust from Worcestershire County Council after many years of hard work and negotiation.
This was to be the catalyst for Kinver Edge committee’s next major project – to establish a path in celebration of the centenary of the gifting of Kinver Edge to the National Trust and the establishment of the committee.
The Centenary Pathway is a 4.5 Kilometre multi-terrain path costing £175,000 and serves to improve links and access to all key sites and integrates the additional land with Kinver Edge.
It was John who had taken over as Secretary in 2013 who would mastermind and manage the project, the ‘puppeteer’ pulling all the strings, and controlling the numbers on the spreadsheet! Leading by example he organised anything that would raise our profile and the money to pay for the Path!
The project was important enough for the Director General of the National Trust to visit TWICE!
The centenary was a major success but the committee was not allowed to rest on their laurels. When John’s dear friend Sue Wright became Patron, John became Chairman and continued the arduous task of filling in applications for funding further projects, this process tested his patience. He continued to manage progress and spending of all projects and loved nothing more than being able to write ‘completed’ at the bottom of his spreadsheet, unfortunately this often took longer than anticipated!
To better manage these projects John had become even more knowledgeable by researching a wide range of subjects.
His knowledge and intense interest in such disparate subjects never ceased to amaze!
It was a privilege to work with John, and he was an example to us all but he did not restrict himself to ‘formal committee business’. He supported National Trust and all of us in practical ways.
He volunteered to help at events such as Volunteer recruitment Days, Special book Sales, and other public events.
The work that John put in on behalf of the National Trust and Kinver Edge Committee has left a legacy for many years to come, not only for local people to enjoy but the thousands of visitors who come from all over the world.
The recent refurbishment of the path up to the Rock Houses, sadly, turned out to be his final project.
We thank him for everything, and will miss him, and promise to continue his work.