Guest 651- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 5,673
Sorry to hear about your husband, but I am failing to see any 'personal attacks' on this thread, just difference in opinions....
Been nice knowing you :)
Guest 656- Registered: 13 Mar 2008
- Posts: 2,262
Lorraine, so sorry to hear that Alan was attacked, how awful
I hope he recovers well and soon, give him our best wishes xx
Hopefully something can be done about this, did he recognize these thugs and if not can the police help identify them with the help of CCTV?
Guest 655- Registered: 13 Mar 2008
- Posts: 10,247
Lorraine, I am appalled by what has happened to Alan, I hope that he recovers soon. What a sad state of affairs it is when people cannot exercise their freedom of speech and action without being physically attacked and property vandalised.
Guest 1694- Registered: 24 Feb 2016
- Posts: 1,087
Lorraine, very sad to hear about Alan. Trust that he recovers well.
back to the western heights though, before speaking at the planning meeting and mentioning orchids and how many different flavours are located up on the heights and in the valley, you may want to consider the following;
Orchid Flower Morphology, Taxonomy and Genetics
It is estimated that, of the approximately 250 orchid species that occur in Europe, there are
currently 52 that occur naturally in the UK (Bateman, 2004).
Common Spotted Orchid: Relatively common orchid found throughout the UK, likes chalky soil particularly. Do not pick it or damage it if you find it in your garden as it is one of the many species of orchid that is protected.
Wouldn't want a good basis for a challenge to digging them all up, if that is what is planned, undermined.
Alex, you are a member of EH yes? Could you not agitate internally to call them to account for not preserving our heritage and start the pressure for them to come up with a timetable for delivery of improvements that objections to the CGI plan will prevent from happenning?
howard mcsweeney1- Location: Dover
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 62,352
english heritage always plead poverty yet today they announce that they are spending £27 million on knocking down and building a new visitor centre at stonehenge.
Guest 685- Registered: 5 May 2009
- Posts: 85
Thank you for all your kind remarks and best wishes ... they are greatly appreciated by both of us.
For those who feel that I should not have put the posting on this site, I wanted to put a stop to people were jumping to wrong conclusions. I will say again that the assault was nothing to do with the Western Heights - Farthingloe planning application.
To clarify the situation, Alan was assaulted by a cyclist, one of a pair of males in their twenties, cycling on the pavement near the DGGS on Frith Road coming from Maison Dieu Road.
Alan made a comment as there was no room to pass unless they went into
single file. As the second one passed he pushed Alan in the back, who was
sent sprawling to the ground. There were three witnesses who gave statements
and the men were seen on at least one CCTV camera.
Alan was attended by passers-by who called an ambulance and the police. He
saw our own GP yesterday afternoon and had a good nights sleep - he is
resting at the moment. He has sustained a black eye, swollen cheek, cuts and
bruises to his hands and generally looks a mess. However, he doesn't appear to be suffering any ill effects - which was all our fears for although physically very fit he is 68.
Thank you again for your kind comments.
Lorraine
Keith Sansum1
- Location: london
- Registered: 25 Aug 2010
- Posts: 23,942
Lorraine, firstly i hope your husband has a speedy recovery,
but to get back to the original posting, like paul(sccotchie) and ward cllr for town and pier chris p i cannot find any attacks.
what i have seen is helpful advice, difference of opinion, and open debate
ALL POSTS ARE MY OWN PERSONAL VIEWS
howard mcsweeney1- Location: Dover
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 62,352
some pavement cyclists get very aggressive and don't understand that they are in the wrong.
because this practice is unofficially legal the natural progression is for a minority to get uppity, hopefully this incident was a one off.
Guest 750- Registered: 12 Apr 2012
- Posts: 72
Firstly, I believe that by opposing plans EH are proving that they very much care about WH as a whole and not just concentrating on the visible. Secondly, the fat lady aint singing yet so until final proof comes along my champagnes not popped, thirdly and most importantly everyone is now showing the effect of putting all their egs in one basket by concentrating on money coming from this project, right now the WH has had the greatest PR event ever with news of this development reaching ears nationwide, so who's starting the working party to talk to EH (who clearly are aware of the area) for the strategic outlook? Who's looking at further events up at the Heights to pull in more visitors? After all the Regatta was postponed what about all the business' involved in that? This weekends open day could well be the biggest - how u going to cash in on it? Instead of bemoaning about how much money you believ you may have lost, start thinking about what you have, it may be smaller funding but its the start of a possible boom. Just because I was anti building has never meant I was anti western Heights, putting myself out of my comfort zone and voicing my feelings has led me to meet many people, including those residents of Dover who all claim ownership of the Heights as they are.
howard mcsweeney1- Location: Dover
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 62,352
the heights and the fortifications are two different issues, the former can survive through agencies like w.c.c.p and w.h.p.s together with animals grazing.
the latter need a large injection of hard cash, open weekends cannot hope to raise the sort of money required.
do the heights and fortifications belong to us in dover?
judging by the distances people travel to the open weekends i would say not.
finally the heights and fortifications have been used to defend the entire country against invasions and enemy attacks, not just dover.
Keith Sansum1- Location: london
- Registered: 25 Aug 2010
- Posts: 23,942
well theres big issues still to come here,
and lots of battles to come
ALL POSTS ARE MY OWN PERSONAL VIEWS
Guest 651- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 5,673
We (WHPS) have, are and will be talking to EH, but they unfortunately are never that forthcoming with information for any parties. In fact the biggest problem CGI have had is getting any sort of guidance from them, and it is a problem WHPs has had for a long time too.
I can't speak as a commitee member but as a general member I would like to see the WHPS commitee jump on the recent comments made by EH in the press and their comments against the CGI application, and get them to truely want to work with their 'partners'.
It is really one of the first times that the potential of the Height has been admitted by someone as senior as Andy Brown, so perhaps they should back the War Memorial (and perhaps the hotel) and link in with the potential of the Drop Redoubt and start to make a real difference.
WHPS will do what it can, but as a small group of volunteers it is very difficult until any sort of funds are available where people could start to be employed so push our ideas onto the next level.
Been nice knowing you :)
howard mcsweeney1- Location: Dover
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 62,352
without wishing to over egg the situation about the heights i went past the car park that overlooks clarendon field this morning and the litter there suggested a party had been held there recently, all the usual stuff and items that someone told me were condominiums(new one on me).
they even had a barbecue to mark the event.
Guest 663- Registered: 20 Mar 2008
- Posts: 1,136
Lorraine sorry to hear about Alan hopefully he will make a good recovery.
Guest 761- Registered: 10 Jul 2012
- Posts: 115
Warning - new forumite's first post!
Hello all,
I have been following this thread with interest for some time now and what fascinates me is, when you strip the discussion back to its bones, everyone on here is united in the same aim - to preserve and repair the landscape and the fortifications on the Western Heights. Of course - how one goes about it is another matter...
Here is another suggestion to throw into the pot. The big problem is, of course, money - and there are huge figures being suggested as to what it will cost to get it up to an acceptable standard, which actually means that nothing gets spent at all. Does that much really need to be spent to at least get the ball rolling?
I have often seen and spoken to tourists who have come from miles away and even continents away to look around the heights even as it is now. And through some hard volunteer work parts of it are okay to open this weekend and charge a small admission fee - why not build on that? If it remained open regularly would it take enough money to cover the wages - even part time - of a few of those who are already volunteering? (job creation)
Surely EH and DDC can do something to help get the ball rolling too? Once it is regularly open, vandalism will be discouraged, and other local businesses and organisations can get involved - more money comes in, more people visit, before long it is building up to what everybody wants and there is money availible to spend on improvements.
With all the publicity and interest around it at the moment it seems like an opportunity that shouldn't be missed.
Okay - please feel free to tell me why this ideological reasoning won't work...
Guest 696- Registered: 31 Mar 2010
- Posts: 8,115
It's certainly shocking to hear that Alan has been attacked and knocked to the ground.
I sincerely hope the authorities will investigate and find out who did it, and bring them to justice.
It's time there was a campaign on the part of the local Administration to stop illegal bike riding on pavements. But people being physically attacked is totally unacceptable, and the Police will no doubt be looking into this to bring the culprit to court to answer for such foul attack.
My best wishes to Alan!
Guest 696- Registered: 31 Mar 2010
- Posts: 8,115
It certainly would work, Mike Green, providing we are not told again and again that the only way forward is to build houses etc. on Western Heights and at Farthingloe.
howard mcsweeney1- Location: Dover
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 62,352
excellent maiden post mike, welcome to the forum.
i doubt that english heritage would be willing to put dosh into the heights, i took the press release with a pinch of salt.
Guest 651- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 5,673
Welcome Mike
That is really what I have been inferring all through, that some funds from somewhere are needed to kick-start the regeneration of the Heights whether it comes from the developers, EH, DDC, War Memorial or an anonymous benefactor.
WHPS can do a limited amount as we all have full time jobs, but even a few tens of thousands of pounds could start off a lot of projects we have that could really make a difference. We want to get people trained up wtth skills, get proper electricity and sanitation into the Redoubt, get the ditches to a more managable state for ongoing maintenance. We are still going to talk to EH again about the way forward for the Heights as it is unclear what we really want.
We are slowly ramping up what we can do as we get a larger core of volunteers as we now have two main open weekend and at least a dozen openings of the Grand Shaft this year. We are looking at an enhanced agreement with EH to give us a bit more autonomy, which will hopefully give more funding opportunities.
It is a long slow slog with a lot of brick walls hit, but we are determined to do the best for the Heights. It is quite hard for a small group to deal with a national organisation like EH !!
Been nice knowing you :)
Keith Sansum1- Location: london
- Registered: 25 Aug 2010
- Posts: 23,942
MIKE
Welcome to the forum, long may you stay and contribute the wide ranging threads.
you have some grand ideas and theres no knocking them, ots of ideas have come forward and the volunteers up there do a great job, but can only do so much, hen you need a bit of dosh to do so much more.
I think what is clear is that a do nothing attitude will only see decline, so its at this point that decisions will have to be made.
I'm, neither pro nor anti developement within the heights and still interested in views that come forward as to how to finance the heights progress in the future should no developement take place, as a ay of trying to understand those opposing developement views i have asked that very question, but the answers would not realy help future generations up at the heights.
It'S getting to those sanswers that i think i need to make my mind up.
we have had a vast range of reasons why developement is maybe an option
but those opposing have so far told us they would to save the heights
1; put dexter cows in place
2; cut the grass every so often
not a real answer to the needs of the heights.
but mike its nice hear you and look forward to your contributions
ALL POSTS ARE MY OWN PERSONAL VIEWS
