Thursday 1 July 2010
Gosbecks Archaeological Park
I see in the Gazette that the boys and girls at the Town Hall have trousered a gift made to the people of Colchester for the development of Gosbecks Archaeological Park. They are spending the money on mainteneance and appear to have got through £100,000 or so of the original £500,000 given in 1995. So, what has happened to the interest for a start? Who has taken this decision to misuse the money and why? Was it a Tory or a Liberal Democrat? Colchester has more of a story to tell than Stonehenge. Gosbecks may just apppear to some as a few lines on the ground, but that is what the council's view seems to be of the word 'development'. The original intention was a visitor's centre with all the prestige and activity that that would bring to Colchester. Colchester alone fulfils all of the requirements for the Roman part of the school curriculum. The potential for catering for this is immense and could so easily have been enabled at Gosbecks. It has huge potential as part of what could be. Sutton Hoo was just a mound of earth until some people with a vision made a lottery application. Now look at what they have. We should have had those millions. It is negative thinking like that of the council that holds us back. But then, that is probably exactly what some want for Colchester. It appears that our council have trousered a half milion pounds of our money plus 15 years worth of interest, to use for helping itself out over maintenance costs, contrary to what it was given for. That, to me, suggests a dishonest act and one that should be challenged. Who accepted this money on our behalf all those years ago and how do they view what has been done in their name since then?
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2 comments:
I would love to see our community make more of this heritage site. I love it. However I don't much like the people who are unable or unwilling to control their dogs, and have much reduced my visits after some unpleasant encounters. Or maybe I should get a Cerberus of my own?
Ah, perhaps after an hour`s hunting, I have found a way to contact you? Tried to email but didn`t work.
This is not about this part of your(marvellous) site but I hope it will do.
I found your site,hoping to find Google images of snowdrops in the Castle Park, which I remember, from childhood, used to be in huge drifts.What I did find were your old postcards, which I have been browsing nostalgically. I shall go to the rest of the site later.
I lived in Colchester from the age of nine, in 1950, to eleven and three quarters, at the end of 1952, and I, also,went to the old St. James` primary school for a couple of terms, before going to St. Mary`s private school in Lexton Road. My mother ran a shop at number 18,East Hill (hope I have the number right!)at a bad time for running a sweet shop - during rationing! We later moved across the road to number 70, the 'downhill' third of a large building that, I thought,could have been a convent or similar. It had beautiful slender gothic windows in the rear.
Some of my memories during that time were: being told at St. Mary`s, that the King had died: an Old King Cole themed carnival in the park the previous year, ending with fireworks, with a set-piece finale of the King and Queen`s heads: a Girl Guide swimming gala, in which I took part, at the open-air pool and going to London to the South Bank exhibition of the Festival of Britain. Oh, and a huge fire at a big ironmongers in the High Street. Have forgotten the name.
I have no postcards of Colchester but I have some black and white snaps of the East Hill/East Street area, including one of St. James, which I took on a visit in 1963 which I could email if you are interested and I have an email address that works!
Best wishes, Joy.
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