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GWYNNE
JOHNSON
Gwynne Johnson died on
Sunday 12th December 2004. Gwynne had been ill for a long
time with cancer. Gwynne was a good friend of the
Conservation Group and she gave a talk at our AGM in 2002
on conservation in grasslands. Gwynne was well known as a
very enthusiastic local amateur naturalist. With her
husband, Nigel, she was active in the Hampshire Wildlife
Trust and carried out various botanical surveys. She and
Nigel also devoted a great deal of love and attention to
creating a lovely garden at their home in Soberton. But
Gwynne was much more than a naturalist, she was also a
warm and generous human being and a great friend to
many.
I knew Gwynne mainly
through the Havant Wildlife Group, when we met on Monday
evenings for talks and discussions and on Saturday
mornings for walks in the local countryside. We shall all
miss her greatly, for her immense kindness and her ever
willingness to help on all things to do with nature. But
plants were her love and speciality, and not just pretty
wild flowers, for Gwynne was also keen for us all to
appreciate the less glamorous aspects of the botanical
world, namely, grasses, sedges, rushes and even mosses.
We all loved her so much. Personally, I have learned more
about plants from Gwynne than any other person. Gwynne
was a joy to walk with and, I must admit, I frequently
hogged her attention when out on walks, though I am sure
I am not the only one to do this.
Gwynne was a good friend
of the Brook Meadow Conservation Group and came over to
Brook Meadow on several occasions to help find and
identify difficult plants. She made a number of
contributions to our plant list including Whorl-grass,
Green-ribbed Sedge and Marsh and Sea Arrowgrass, which
continue to escape me on Brook Meadow. But I know they
are there because Gwynne found them. Goodbye, Gwynne. I
shall miss you. We shall all miss you. Thank you for
everything. A lovely lady.
Gwynne
examining a rayed form of Groundsel at Warblington -
27.9.03
Gwynne
puzzling over a plant during a group walk in Stansted
Forest - 31.5.03
Gwynne
and the group at Northney - 24.5.03
Gwynne
looking closely at Wild Tyme on Oxenbourne Down -
6.7.02
Gwynne
examining a Fescue grass on Oxenbourne Down -
6.7.02.
Rowan
Plantation
The Havant Wildlife
Group, of which Gwynne was an important member and sadly
missed, donated 15 Rowan saplings to be planted on Brook
Meadow in memory of Gwynne. They were planted by the
Conservation Group in an open area on the east side of
the north meadow in April 2005. However, some of them had
to be replaced (suitably protected by plastic tubes)
after the small trees were nibbled by browsing deer.
Gwynne would have been amused! A total of 20 trees were
finally planted, of which 19 were still healthy in 2008.
Rowan
plantation in memory of Gwynne Johnson on Brook Meadow -
06.05.05
Rowans
with tubes on Brook Meadow - 28.08.05
Berries
on the Rowan plantation on Brook Meadow -
19.11.06
