Guest 651- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 5,673
I have always thought that Dover Castle would be better going it alone as an independant charity run site, not caught up in all the corporate ******* that is has to deal with and run to benefit the Castle and the rest of the town's heritage. However it will never happen as they funds from Dover get distributed around all it's other sites countrywide....
Been nice knowing you :)
Guest 649- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 14,118
Paul the Bofors gun is going to be done up,EH have already done their report on the repairs,and I was aske today to do one to,as it is in my line of work,I have already done that report and I am at this time writing it out and will be send in by the end of the week.
howard mcsweeney1- Location: Dover
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 62,352
i thought that educational trips were allowed in for free.
Guest 649- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 14,118
When I open this up,all I was telling you that sheep are moving into the moat ,we have gone along way away from that now,and alot of what is being said is not fact.
Guest 651- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 5,673
Topics change Vic as you well know !!!
I know about the gun but look at the state it had to get into before anything was done with it....
Howard - educational visits are free, but EH receive a payment (I think from the government) for a each educational visitor that they let in free.
I know the Friends have to put a positive front on (I know as I was membership secretary for several years - that is a FACT too!), but all of what i am saying is true....
Been nice knowing you :)
Jan Higgins
- Location: Dover
- Registered: 5 Jul 2010
- Posts: 13,895
Vic, to be honest there is not much else to say about the sheep coming, except they are coming.
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I try to be neutral and polite but it is hard and getting even more difficult at times.
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howard mcsweeney1- Location: Dover
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 62,352
this is getting ever more odd.
english heritage are happy to take taxpayers money but while they are doing that they will not let in members of the public who would pay out of their own pocket.
Guest 651- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 5,673
Been nice knowing you :)
Guest 649- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 14,118
Thank you all for your imputs into this,but I can add no more to it,but if you wish to aske me a question or you seek more informtion please go ahead.
Guest 651- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 5,673
Yes that is right Howard - more income for less effort.
If I was a kid I wouldn't fancy an educational visit that would just be led by a guide all the way round.....
Been nice knowing you :)
howard mcsweeney1- Location: Dover
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 62,352
all sounds like sharp practice to me, i have never heard a good word for english heritage from one of their employees.
there is something very wrong when a national treasure/asset is in the possession of a company like that.
Guest 672- Registered: 3 Jun 2008
- Posts: 2,119
This all sounds very sad to me.
We lose our biggest asset to the town over the winter months, a gun and even the sheep no doubt are going to be welded up.
If you close certain underground works during the winter months, it doesn't take an idiot to know that warm and cold air don't mix with disastrous results.
The result is.......a lot of hard and important works going up the swannie.
grass grows by the inches but dies by the feet.
Ross Miller
- Location: London Road, Dover
- Registered: 17 Sep 2008
- Posts: 3,707
I stopped my EH membership some time ago
From the feedback I have had from both current and ex EH staff I have very much come to the view that they are the last people I would trust to look after our heritage. They are happy to grab all the public money they can and spend it on the "customer experience" yet at the same time are letting the fabric of many of the buildings in their care deteriorate to the point of being past saving.
I agree with Paul's view that we would be much better served if a local charity were to run the Castle and other local historic sites for the benefit of the town.
"Dream as if you'll live forever. Live as if you'll die today." - James Dean
"Being deeply loved by someone gives you strength,
While loving someone deeply gives you courage" - Laozi
Guest 697- Registered: 13 Apr 2010
- Posts: 622
You only need to look at the privately run Leeds Castle to see what could be done -events, concerts, etc. year-round. I am surprised that our MP, DDC, KCC and Visit Kent have not done more to lobby on this issue.
Guest 649- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 14,118
It is still Dover Castle and needs to have all the support of us all. If it had not been for E/H taking over the Castle when it did,the Castle would not look like the way it does this day,and the underground and the keep etc would not have or look like they do today,E/H did put alot of funding into the Castle years ago and still do,but they like any business must make money ,and if there are times of the year that it can not make a turnover then by staying open any funds that they make in the good times will go down the drain.
Guest 645- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 4,463
Personally I'd turn the castle into a luxury hotel which would then provide cash for the tunnels etc similar to the state run paradors in Spain where old castles,monasterys etc have been converted and are a fantastic draw for visiting tourists.
Marek
I think therefore I am (not a Tory supporter)
Guest 651- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 5,673
Been nice knowing you :)
Guest 649- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 14,118
You are right Marek and for many years we have been saying that about the officers mess up at the Castle,and already they do hire out the two houses in the ground of the castle,but they have ripout the officers mess and now it is just the walls and roof standing but still a great bulding,they have plans for it ,but again it is down to funding but it would make a great hotel overlooking the coast.
Guest 697- Registered: 13 Apr 2010
- Posts: 622
Sorry, Vic, but who is going to take the risk on investing in a cable car when the opportunity to gain a return on that investment will be severly affected by the winter closure. The whole aim of the cable car was to connect town and castle. With the castle shut, the numbers definitely won't add up.
Guest 698- Registered: 28 May 2010
- Posts: 8,664
Actually the cable car, if built, will connect castle with sea front and will not have a town station. This, I think, is a fatal flaw in the design. I have always favoured a covered escalator link like the one at Ocean Park in Hong Kong.
I'm an optimist. But I'm an optimist who takes my raincoat - Harold Wilson
