FOR the first time since the dawn of history a standing stone has been set in the Forest – this time to mark the opening of a new Forest trail.
The development of the Blue Rock Trail has been a joint project by the Forest of Dean District Council and the Ruspidge and Soudley Parish Council, funded by the Cinderford Gateways programme and the parish council.
The trail follows the line of the former railway that linked the two communities but will also remind all that walk the trail of their heritage as evidence of both the railway and the quarry workings are still evident.
The opening of the trail was last week marked by the setting of a standing stone and the burying of a parish time capsule on Ruspidge Road, adjacent to the entrance to the Tennants factory.
The walkway is very much a community initiative which has been designed and developed to provide a peaceful, attractive trail which can be accessed and enjoyed by all local residents, be they on foot, with pushchairs or wheelchairs.
On its route it passes both the Blue Rock Tunnel, a feat of engineering which took the railway through an outcrop of solid limestone, and the impressive Shakemantle Limestone Quarry, which rises imposingly from the railway line and Cinderford Brook.
Whilst the pathway creation work has been undertaken by contractors Mike Jones Plant Hire, much credit for the initial walkway clearance works must also go to those volunteers who turned out over the weekend of July 8 and 9 to prepare the site for the earth works and surfacing.
The Cinderford Greening/Gateways initiative is a £165,000 environmental improvements programme which has enabled the development of enhancement projects on Forest Vale Industrial Estate and at the key entrances into the town.
The projects have been undertaken in order to improve first impressions of Cinderford for visitors, investors and tourists, and to enhance the local community's sense of civic pride in the town.