Who do we need to convert?

[Nemesis]

I think they were Dan's peg to hang a hat on... Betjeman was a great campaigner and I agree it's still needed now.

 

[Penners]

Listening to the titbits of Betjeman that have been regularly broadcast over the past few days, I was surprised how often he played fast and loose with the scansion rules. I'd never noticed it before.

I'd also never noticed how similar his voice is to Danny La Rue's!!

 

[Nemesis]

No, there aren't rules - at least, they are there to be played with!

I'm a great fan of Mr B's poetry - and no that's not cos I don't 'understand' modern stuff. His was modern stuff, so witty.

Here's a bit about Battersea:

http://www.batterseapowerstation.org.uk/news/latest_news.html

and more update on Dalston

http://opendalston.blogspot.com/

 

[Penners]

W-e-e-ell... I'm not sure I agree. Yes, there are scansion rules, but nowadays they're frequently broken or intentionally put aside. Sometimes to great effect.

But JB's little scanning eccentricities often fall in the middle of an otherwise perfectly scanned piece.

 

[Moo]

But for me that's what gives them their charm.

 

[Nemesis]

Well I think he may have rather more than a hiccup mid-line if he could see what they are proposing to relace the General Market with...

http://buildingforlife.org/default.aspx?contentitemid=1305&refid=0&sl=&field=drr_sectionsearchterm&term=Smithfield&type=7&addparams=%26refid%3d0%26s

 

[Penners]

But for me that's what gives them their charm.

Oh, you're such a beatnik, Moo!

 

[Moo]

A wild thing - that's me.

 

[Lime]

I quite liked the bits about Betjeman.

I was in Dover a couple of days ago looking up at the white cliffs.
I wondered what Betjeman would have made of them.
Then I noticed that the cliffs had been patched in large places where the face had crumbled and I thought, I wonder if the repair is cement or lime?
I feel sure Betjeman would have made comment or rhyme about it.

 

[L1zzy]

I want to see the inside of Dan Cruickshanks house in Spitalfields........ I'm intrigued - anyone know if there are any pics anywhere?

I wish I'd seen this thread earlier all week I've been thinking how odd it is that noone had mentioned either Dans Jb prog or Restoration - if you will hide under strangely titled threads hows a girl supposed to know - is telepathy a prerequisite for this site!!!

 

[Nemesis]

His house has featured on TV in the past - it's very much a case of being not over - restored. It certainly retains its layers of history.

Good to see the pics of his campaigning in the old days, camping out and sleeping in derelict buildings to stop the bulldozers.

Here's a recent Torygraph article:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/property/main.jhtml?xml=/property/2006/07/05/pdan05.xml

As I'm very heavily involved with the SAVE Smithfield campaign I was delighted that he brought it all to a wider audiece in his Betjeman prog. JB lived very near, and I know he would have been horrified by what is being proposed.


Dan C's still a Trustee of SAVE http://www.savebritainsheritage.org and very much involved with the Georgian Group http://www.georgiangroup.org.uk


Ah well - the old-style forum you could change the titles on each post, which did at times help reflect changes of topic within a thread.

 

[Nemesis]

PS - the Spitalfields Trust is still doing great work, although branching out now - see the post re the 2006 RICS awards, Allt-Y-Bella in Wales.

 

[Moo]

Just testing - to see if I can join a thread and change the title

 

[Moo]

Well, it works, but it's still not much help to anyone who's pressed for time and just wants to cherry-pick topics.

However, Lizzy, if you dip in frequently (once a day?) and click on the little icon by the last poster's name, it takes you straight to the last post, which saves time.
And it isn't really such a hardship, following all the threads, is it? I, for one, have learned all sorts of interesting and unexpected things that way.

 

[Nemesis]

It's Cruickshank... I still have a large batch of flyers for a SAVE talk which no-one noticed the name was missing the second c - ouch! until it was too late! I have to say even the Beeb gets it wrong at times though.

No, changing the title isn't really much use when it doesn't show up and David's puns are lost.

 

[Penners]

Yup

 

[ilikecobwebs]

Having read this thread "who do we need to convert", I have to say I do wonder just who would make the best target(s).
Having seen new neighbours mangle a cottage property (one of four that were all once mirror-images of each other) with upvc windows and a tasteless 2-storey side extension, I think that many planning departments need their rears kicked. I also think a lot of builders do too. They are the ones who want everything "easy", "quick to fix, quick to fit", etc so that they can get more paying jobs completed per month/year.
Some years back we wanted to replace a metal window in our kitchen with a wooden one. The builder offered us pvc ones, which we turned down flat and he couldnt believe it. He wouldnt supply wood...just kept prattling on about no maintenance, no painting, etc; so we cleared him off and got someone else to do the job.

I have watched all our neighbouring dining-room windows (1860's) sacrificed for patio-doors so that the kiddy-winks can go play on the garden direct from the house. Glass hallways have replaced old lobbies, bathrooms have been built on top of lean-to kitchens, to satisfy the fad about having "upstairs bathrooms", and the original shapes of the cottages have been buried under add-ons.

I dont think that really, people understand what they are doing. They can't see what the fuss is about. Their aesthetically ugly extension is "essential for modern family life"...suggest to them that a modern house would have been a better purchase for them and you end up with a black eye.
I think people such as those in this forum and elsewhere are just being ridiculed by the majority...silly old fools, harping on about retaining features and conservation. Our voice isnt big enough. The average Brit just bulldozes through life, and houses, doing exactly what he wants, irrespective of the lasting damage. It would take nothing short of a miracle to educate such people, and the worst thing about it is, he's even got permission from most planning departments to do it.

 

[Nemesis]

But aren't we back to Tessa Jowell here?

Unless a building is listed, or in certain Conservation Areas, there's b*gg*er all that the local planning dept can do about it.

There's no law against bad taste.

 

[ilikecobwebs]

I'm afraid my knowledge of politicians is poor; I cant keep up with them.

 

[Nemesis]

She's the person in charge of the DCMS. Has been the Secretary of State for a considerable while.

But as I said - you can't blame local planning depts, they are only working within the law. Many do produce guidance and even design guides, but as long as what is done complies with the relevant building control standards, that's as far as it goes.