Roger Baker, the Thames Path volunteer coordinator who designed the wonderful Acorn Baton for the 30th anniversary relay, was inspired by a light-pull and an old wooden post, as he explains here…
‘A while ago I’d bought a small light-pull designed in the shape of an acorn, which had been made by Harry, a wood-turner from Brightwell-cum-Sotwell.
The silhouette of an acorn is the iconic symbol of National Trails and features on all the Thames Path way-markers and fingerposts. That icon and the light-pull came together into a sketch I drew of a simple design for an acorn-shaped baton, which I gave to Harry. We spent some time in his workshop turning that initial idea into a prototype to check it would work.
I was keen for the baton to be ‘turned’ out of a piece of the British oak that’s used for our trail infrastructure on the Thames Path. As luck would have it, two old fingerposts were due to be replaced this spring.
One at Shillingford had almost rotted out of the ground, and the other near Ashton Keynes was very weathered. They had the perfect heritage to be used to make batons!
Harry turned a baton from each of the posts, so that we had a spare just in case anything happened to the first one. As he worked on the timber Harry remarked on the quality of the wood. Our records showed that both had been in the ground for over 20 years, pretty impressive for untreated timber in a damp riverside location, and testament to the quality of the original oak.
Texture effects were added to the acorn cup and the surface was oiled to give a wonderful natural, hard-wearing finish ready to be handled by the many relay participants.
Our wonderful Thames Path 30th anniversary logo had been designed for us by illustrator Rosalie Bloy (rosalie bloy (@rozartzz) • Instagram photos and videos), so the next task was how to engrave the anniversary logo onto the acorn. I consulted John at Advanced Engraving in Kidlington and he suggested laser etching the logo straight onto the wood. It was a challenge due to the curved shape of the acorn but John made it work, and I was absolutely delighted with the result.
Unveiling the baton at the source of the River Thames when we started the Thames Path Relay was an honour. Seeing it passing from hand to hand along the 185.2 mile route, being admired and carefully looked after, was a real joy.’
