It forms the heart of the village, together with the remaining pub, railway halt and Post Office; the adjacent Victorian primary school uses it as its sports field; the village football team has its changing room/pavillion in a corner and the village hall is in the car park. It is used to hold all manner of local festivities from the Queens Jubilee to birthday parties and weddings; no doubt several generations of young lovers have benefited from the now mature oak trees that surround it.
Point being that this important local feature was not created by "The Council" but by the locals, my mum and uncles who raised the cash to buy a farmers field for the purpose, with a bit of State aid by way of the short lived "King George's Fields Foundation", half a million quid nationwide. It is now 'owned' by the village, in the trusteeship of the Parish Council, not the Local Authority who would, no doubt, love to flog it off for commuter housing.
I think DaveNick might have a point with their "Big Society".
The apparatus in the playpark would give the Righteous a fit btw, proper old fashioned swings, seesaw, big slide and cast-iron rocking horse!
* For American readers 'V' = Fifth.
Update, entirely unrelated. H/T http://manwiddicombe.blogspot.com/2010/04/smoking-signs.html
12 comments:
Hi Banned. I'm sorry to hear your mum recently passed away. May she rest in peace. It's nice you got together with your family for a reunion. If I had a family reunion, I"d be the only one there ;-(
I hope the council keeps their grubby paws of the fun park, it sounds lovely. I'm glad children can enjoy a bit of fun before it's all taken away.
PS: Thanks for your nice comment, I wish I could move TODAY, but it's impossible to sell out now. I am trying to get things sorted thru and semi packed, but it's a daunting task. I'm happy you find a nice area. This park area sounds nice too, and I luv all the carvings.
Much as the Cleggeron Show is doing a crap idea of selling the "Big Society" idea it could really work in cases like this.
Take this wonderful-sounding village.
The 'remaining' pub? If it's threatened, let a group of locals club together and run it without the council or govt dumping all over them. Lift the performing rights music restrictions that are killing village halls. Easier alcohol licences for events.
Hi Bunny, have no fear, the Local Authority cannot touch it with their vile dead hands. They don't own it and neither does the Parish. Each succeeding Parish Council acts as its Board Of Trustees which is the beauty of doing things for yourself!
This pre-war Big Society idea seems to have been very successful, I just noted on Wiki
that although organised by the Gommint, the funds were raised by popular national appeal.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King_George's_Fields
A.S.E., sorry perhaps 'remaining' was the wrong word. The pub simply remains, as does the railway halt, bus service, red phone box and Church!
I got there early and treated myself to lunch in that pub, very nice it was too with a healthy number of working blokes at the bar while the restaurant part was just under half full. Not bad for a random Monday off the beaten track. Happily it was quite sunny so I didn't mind going outside for my post-lunch smoke.
Good point about relaxing Labours idiot restrictions on entertainment, off to
http://yourfreedom.hmg.gov.uk/
with that one.
I'm surprised the Health and Safety haven't managed to get themselves involved in the village banned. Well done the villagers!
You've reminded me of the old Dundee Royal Infirmary which was built by public subscription. My granny and grandpa both donated along with other Dundonians.
Somehow Dundee council got their hands on it and around 8 years ago sold the building to a developer for the miserable sum of £760,000. The developer has made a killing as I've estimated the flats he's made have profited him to the tune of at least £8 million. It was a massive building in a wonderful location.
Again, I congratulate your parents generation for their foresight. My grandparents generation somehow lost theirs but giving 'their' building away to politicians.
Sounds as though it should be Banned, and pray God it stays that way!
I echo Bunni in her sorrow of hearing of your lose and her wish that your Mum R.I.P.
'For American readers 'V' = Fifth.'
Good to see you being inclusive.
Most pre war hospitals were of charitable origins Subrosa, Labour simply Nationalised them.
Hi Christopher, it looks like an English village should do though,sadly, many do not.
Scunnert I put that in when I remembered that in America they retitled "The Madness of King George III" in case they went looking for the first two in the series!
Sorry about your loss Banned! Mums hold that special place in all our hearts and will never be replaced. Sounds like you have been able to maintain some local control in a few things and thats great. Thought everything over there was "Big Brother"!
Hi Ron, well the point about the piece was that with the Great Depression barely over with a bit of a prod from a government agency, no, a Royal Foundation in fact, local individuals throughout Britain raised the funds to create a lasting legacy of 470 public recreation grounds such as the one I visited. I saw it as perhaps a precurser of David Camerons Big Society idea.
But we have always done things that way, see my note to Subrosa about hospitals, then there is the splendid Royal National Lifeboat Institution, the Air Ambulances and the National Trust which while it sometimes ventures in areas that it should not remains one of our finest private institutions. If Cameron really wanted to help he would sweep away some of the countless rules and regulations that hinder private voluntary initiatives like those that force small village halls to get full entertainment licenses for small charitable performances.
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