Wednesday 18 January 2017

A lovely donation in memory of John Sims

Notice: The first of our webcams finally came back into operation today! See this link to view.


John Sims
We recently received a lovely donation which has paid for the entire cost of constructing and installing our new peregrine nest platform on the east face of Derby Cathedral's tower.

Ashley Sims has made a substantial donation in memory of his father, John Sims, who passed away in 2014.
We had asked Ashley to wait before donating as he had expressed a wish to support a specific, key element of our project. When the need for a new platform reared its head, he agreed that covering its costs would be a fitting tribute to his father.

Ashley and John have been staunch supporters of our project since the early days of the project.
Indeed, any eagle-eyed reader who owns a copy of the 2008 DVD, "The Peregrines of Derby Cathedral", may just recognise John. He briefly appears  in it,  looking up alongside fellow watchers at the peregrines on the tower above them.
Indeed, it was his son, Ashley Sims, who first approached us with a proposal to make the DVD and who then so generously gave the copyright to our project once his initial outlay had been recouped. We've sold hundreds of copies since 2008 and the profit has really helped us cover our costs alongside all the excellent individual donations we have received over the years.

Ashley said he wanted to ensure that some of the money he inherited from his father would be put to good use and in a way from which others might benefit. He wrote to us saying:  
"As you know both my father and I have been keen advocates of your fantastic Peregrine Project for some years now, visiting it very often in the early years and keeping in touch since via your website.
He got a great deal of enjoyment out of your vision and work so it only seemed fitting to help in any way
."

So a really big thanks to Ashley from the Project Team at Derbyshire Wildlife Trust. It was a great relief to finally complete the platform installation just before Christmas, albeit a year later than we had initially intended. We are sure John would have approved of what we've achieved.

View of the peregrine platform from one of our newly
installed cameras. The cost of constructing this replacement
was met from a donation made in memory of John Sims. 

And here's the first recording from our cleaned up and newly replaced platform, made by webcam watcher, Wendy Barter.
















13 comments:

Wendy Bartter said...

Generous gift indeed by Ashley in remembrance of his Dad & one which all Derby's supporters can enjoy!
Just watching Peregrine (male?) making use of the new scrape courtesy of newly streaming cam #4!
Many thanks for all your hard work team!

Wendy Bartter said...

Celebration snippet of vid capture ... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-_gDwERyBCQ

kate said...

Echo what Wendy says'
Big Thank you Ashley and John Sims.

and lovely to see cams making a come back, pic on flkr, and lovely to see Wendy on the ball with video captures.
Big Thanks all the Team.
Male was still on edge of scrape this morning but could hear another calling nearby... Finger's crossed.

Wendy Bartter said...

Peregrine has nerves of steel ... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4-i16lCq3Yk

Paul said...

Thank you Ashley judging by the amount of bones and feathers in the nest platform the birds have taken to it.
Both birds on Jurys at 2:30 this afternoon.

Heather said...

What a fitting memorial to Ashley's father John and one that I'm so pleased the peregrines have taken to. I did wonder that it might deter them from taking up residence in their new home seeing people setting up the scaffolding. Nothing seems to deter our indomitable pair and hopefully we will have a really successful breeding season again. Looking forward to pulling up the armchair and forgetting the housework!

Mark Winstanley said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Helen said...

Last week, as I was browsing through a copy of Mike Dilger's book 'Nightingales in November' I came across a couple of short paragraphs about the Derby peregrines. The book tracks twelve different species throughout the year, including peregrine falcons, (although I haven't read the rest of it!!)
Great to have one of the cameras back up and running.

Henfeathers said...

So happy to have cam 4 back - have missed Derby Peregrine Cam - wonderful cam and best wishes to all involved - thank you.

Nick B (DWT) said...

Peregrine on platform edge 11pm Monday.
Nick

Wendy Bartter said...

Stopping the night methinks as still there! Is it the male?

Wendy Bartter said...

Snippets from yesterday evening trying to get some face views ... difficult!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OglD-IROmMw

Wendy Bartter said...

Was very fortunate to see Mr DP fly in this morning & a very reasonable view of him ... this bit of footage contains the screengrab from my Nexus tablet ...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sRKdFrHxYGs