In June 2024 one of the Bridge View Allotment holders, Chris Ring, took his own life in the River Derwent in Milford. This was a terrible shock to the village – he was well known and well liked. He kept bees on his allotment and gave presentations on beekeeping there and organised Apple Day in Belper, which inspired Milford to do the same. He was also on the board of Transition Belper, an umbrella environmental group. and he organised the highly successful Belper Goes Green festival every year. It was decided, in consultation with his friends in Transition Belper and his family, to create a couple of memorials in Chris’s honour on Bridge View Allotments; a new bench and the Chris Ring Community Orchard.
The new bench has now been installed, about 50 yards south of East Terrace, on the public footpath and opposite Chris’s former allotment. It was created in July 2025 by Trevor Smelt and Adrian Rochford, with plaque wording by Chris’s family and The Quakers.
The second memorial is the Chris Ring Community Orchard, which will be open for the whole community to use. Two allotments were cleared of overgrowth in January 2024 and found to contain several fruit trees, so these became the basis of the proposed orchard. Two more apple trees were transferred from Chris Ring’s garden (on request of Chris’s family) in February 2025. The community orchard is located where the public footpath from the end of East Terrace to the A6 rakes a sharp turn to the right.
Apple trees dug out from Chris’s garden
Apple trees planted in proposed orchard
In April 2025 local tree surgeon Mark Hudson kindly removed three large ash saplings from the site, and in May 2025 a party of 12 NHS volunteers dug the site over ready for turfing.
NHS work party May 2025
On the 19th September 2025 a party of 12 volunteers (7 from the NHS and 5 from Bridge View Allotments) gathered. First 54m2 of turf was deposited at the Shaw Lane, paid for by Belper Town Council. This was then carried by wheelbarrow to the community orchard.
Turf deposited at the end of East Terrace
Meanwhile the rest of the work party cleared the ground of any remaining turf, dug it over then raked it flat.
Volunteers doing final clearing of area
Raking of ground
The turf was then laid, a massive transformation.
Laying of the turf
Complete transformation!
Work Party
If you’d like to get involved in this and future work parties please get in touch with David Moreton at davidmoretonchevinbrae@gmail.com.
For more detail and background about Bridge View Allotments see here.
If you would like an allotment at Bridge View in Milford please contact David Moreton at davidmoretonchevinbrae@gmail.com.
