Discover Me Tag

The mission of Kadian’s Memorial Tags are to travel to as many of UNESCO’s designated World Heritage Sites, both Cultural and Areas of Outstanding Beauty, in as many countries, as possible. (Unesco List) The programme catalogues, names, and conserves sites of outstanding cultural or natural importance to the common heritage of humanity

KADIAN HARDING

Kadian Harding, age 14, died while riding his bicycle on Wednesday, 25 July 2012 in Wiltshire. (www.thetimes.co.uk)

He is the treasured family member of four; son to Thomas and Debora, brother and companion to his sister Sam (fourteen months younger), and best friend to his dog Duke. He was also held closely by a much larger community of family and friends who reside in both the US and the UK, as he was a dual citizen and lived substantial amounts of time in both countries.

Kadian was known for his exceptional kindness and generosity. He is mourned greatly, particularly because of the contagious happiness he spread, and an ageless spirit which could leave an indelible print within just a minute of meeting people, young and old alike. He also had a signature koala bear hug, which he gave liberally.

Kadian’s spirit was nurtured by wildness and the great outdoors in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains in West Virginia, USA. He’d navigate the limbs of trees intuitively, measuring their strength through his embrace, rather than by the weight of his feet and then sway with them in the wind from their very tops. You couldn’t keep him out of a swimming hole. Rope swings were a magic means of flying through thin air. Shoes were unnatural. Walking adventures through woods and fields were daily food for his soul – especially with his dog Duke. Freshly fallen snow took a hundred different forms. Streams were made for hopping, rain puddles for skipping, blackberries for instant gratification, not collecting. Hidden forts in the woods were as exciting to share as Christmas presents.

As he neared his teens, one of his greatest loves was for his bicycle – largely because of the freedom it gave him to venture further into the countryside with companions, or on his own. It wasn’t the fitness challenge, or the adrenaline rush of an off-road ride that he loved, but a gentle ride through back country lanes where he could drink in the beautiful views. Any quality ride had to end, of course, at an ice cream store, or with a chocolate bar.

Kadian for all his love of the outdoors was also a creative and serious student. At the age of 13, he moved to the UK to attend school at Bedales, in Steep, Hampshire (www.bedales.org.uk) He took a serious interest in Apple computers and Steve Jobs. So serious, that he made his own podcast channel, and also spent a considerable amount of time making movies. After his death, Apple Corporation paid to have these rendered and loaded on Itunes as a special tribute, making them available to a wider audience.

It was in Steep that he discovered Geocaching (Steep Countryside). Geocaching appealed to all those traits, which made Kadian so special – his hunger for adventure and discovery, his creativity, his readiness for a good challenge or problem-solving, his love of partaking in a larger community, but most of all what geocaching led him to – the beauty and wonder of the world.

The mission of Kadian’s Memorial Tags are to travel to as many of UNESCO’s designated World Heritage Sites, both Cultural and Areas of Outstanding Beauty, in as many countries, as possible. (Unesco List) The programme catalogues, names, and conserves sites of outstanding cultural or natural importance to the common heritage of humanity

It is our hope in doing so that you will take Kadian’s spirit with you to places he would love to have gone, and in so exploring, he will lead you to the kind of beauty he shared with the world.

Please lend us any pictures and stories you are willing to share for our website project at www.kadianproject.com.