The latest Argus "Anti" letter

[Silent Bob]

My response, just sent to the Argus:

I was interested in the post-pub ramblings around the Falmer area of J R Gilding back in July, and wondered why it took so long to commit it to writing (letters 29 September 2006).

The letter begins by referring to two photographs, but I don't know where he has seen them, so cannot comment on the quality as he has.

All I must point out is that an aerial photograph does not give any idea of how a scene will look to somebody on the ground, and until we all grow wings and the Bognor birdman prize is won every year, we must reflect on views that we will actually see. Thus the view from the A27 is what the vast majority of people will see, as there are limited other viewpoints that are regularly visited by humans.

The references to Falmer pond seem a bit superfluous, as nothing will change there. As he correctly points out in his letter, the stadium will be the other side of the B2123.

He also seems unaware that the stadium will require the demolition of some of the "tatty" university of Brighton buildings and will be sunk into the ground. There will be far more effort to blend into the surroundings than was displayed when the Sussex University campus was built and extended, yet he seems to think that those particular buildings "blended into the Downs and the trees hid the odd modern carbuncle jutting up".

He then decides to ramble on about additional buildings on the site, security fencing and the like, which are surely all figments of his imagination.

I really think he shouldn't drink so much at lunchtimes.

 

[Uncle Spielberg]

Dear Editor

I am writing regarding Mr Gilding’s letter in the Argus today “ Falmer is much more than just another muddy field “. I do not know what planet Mr Gilding inhabits and may I suggest he might try a weaker beer next time he visits the Swan Inn as to describe the proposed Falmer site as “ a beautiful cornfield shimmering in the hot July Sun “ and as “ a gateway to the South Downs “ is frankly absurd and a distortion of the truth of such magnitude I am surprised you even decided to print it.

May I be so bold as to suggest, nay request, that the Argus do not print anymore letters about Falmer. The anti Falmer lobby is taking things to such a ridiculous level, no distortion of the truth is beneath them it would seem. The pro lobby and the anti lobby will never agree or see eye to eye and therefore please please please leave it to the courts to decide the matter when hopefully sense will prevail and the Albion will get permission.

I really don’t think I can take much more of this nonsense.

Gareth Glover

Southwick

 

[Skint Gull]

Cardboard is this letter not a wind up? All the way through reading this I was thinking it's another NSC sarcastic letter to the Argus?

After a nice meal and a drink, we set off across the footbridge over the canyon through which the A27 roars.

To the left was the track over the railway line, called Turnpike Piece, and the boundary on the right was a copse grown to hide the roundabout.

I looked ahead towards Sussex University, but the buildings blended into the Downs and the trees hid the odd modern carbuncle jutting up.

Surely it's a wind up?

 

[Uncle Spielberg]

Alas not

 

[Man of Harveys]

Alas not

Do you know this or is that just what you think?

I sadly think it's real too. What a TURD.

 

[The Large One]

I looked ahead towards Sussex University, but the buildings blended into the Downs and the trees hid the odd modern carbuncle jutting up.

COME ON YOU 'ORRIBLE LOT. NO USE PLAYING HIDE AND SEEK, I CAN SEE YOU...

 

[seagullsovergrimsby]

Re: Re: The latest Argus "Anti" letter

COME ON YOU 'ORRIBLE LOT. NO USE PLAYING HIDE AND SEEK, I CAN SEE YOU

I hope the pitch ain't going to have such a pronounced slope to it !

 

[cardboard]

Well its on the Argus website but i cannot tell if the person was under the influence when writing. You could ask them i guess

 

[Tony Meolas Loan Spell]

Re: Re: The latest Argus "Anti" letter

COME ON YOU 'ORRIBLE LOT. NO USE PLAYING HIDE AND SEEK, I CAN SEE YOU...

HM Govt. Public Service Film

No 42. How not to be seen.

"Mr Ken Andrews, of Leighton Road, Slough, has concealed himself extremely well. He could be almost anywhere. He could be behind the wall, inside the water barrel, beneath a pile of leaves, up in the tree, squatting down behind the car, concealed in a hollow, or crouched behind any one of a hundred bushes.


c Monty Python

 

[HampshireSeagulls]

Re: Re: Re: The latest Argus "Anti" letter

HM Govt. Public Service Film

No 42. How not to be seen.

"Mr Ken Andrews, of Leighton Road, Slough, has concealed himself extremely well. He could be almost anywhere. He could be behind the wall, inside the water barrel, beneath a pile of leaves, up in the tree, squatting down behind the car, concealed in a hollow, or crouched behind any one of a hundred bushes.


c Monty Python

Or he could be in the woods being injected with a toxic substance by MI5 agents for daring to question Princess Tony Blair and his never-ending search for Weapons Of Mass Delusion in Iraq.

 

[H block]

Dear Editor

I am writing regarding Mr Gilding’s letter in the Argus today “ Falmer is much more than just another muddy field “.Mr Gilding`s letter is so full of inaccuracys that I was amazed that you ever considered printing his letter. I understand that there is a small minority of people who are opposed to the building of a community stadium at Falmer and please by all means publish their arguements but please do not insult the intelligence of the Argus`s readers by printing the inane ramblings of a man who admitedly had just left the pub when he came up with these ridiculous views and obviously has no idea at all of the facts concerning the Falmer issue. Would you print a letter by myself claiming that I am in fact Elvis Prestley, that I live on a flat earth and the moon is made of cheese. You might as well though for it has as much credence as Mr Gilding`s letter.
There are no plans that would affect the duck pond in the village and I am sure that once the stadium is built Mr Gilding and his good lady wife can still enjoy an 'session' in the pub and stagger down to watch the pensioners picnics and the frisky young dog.
He talks of university expansion which is a separate issue and also of high level security fencing around the ground which is a feature of the grounds they erected in the Vctorian era and
certainly not what the football club or the city council will include in their planning application.

Mr Gilding gos on to say that

''I consulted my map and, yes, this was the right place, shimmering in the hot July sun.
I looked ahead towards Sussex University, but the buildings blended into the Downs and the trees hid the odd modern carbuncle jutting up. ''

I can only add if it was not the afternoon drinking then it must have been the hot sun which affected him.

 

[Everest]

Who's Elvis Prestley?

 

[Yoda]

Falmer is much more than just another muddy field
While the Falmer For All Campaign is well organised and its supporters are behind it, it fails to convince the general public on two points.

First is the aerial view, which puts the site into context on the edge of the proposed South Downs National Park in an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB).

Second is the "view from a supporter's car on the A27".

continued...
This places an ethereal, semitransparent vision of the stadium, just visible above the trees across the railway line, on a muddy brownfield site between ruined Falmer village and the tatty buildings of Brighton University, with the ugly Sixties Sussex University as the backdrop.

The aerial photo complicated this but was dismissed as "cheating".

As the day of decision drew near, I decided to visit the famous "muddy field" with my wife. We started in a pub, The Swan in Falmer village, on a hot July day. After a nice meal and a drink, we set off across the footbridge over the canyon through which the A27 roars. Why didn't they just build it in a tunnel?

The roaring traffic was soon left behind and we arrived at the heart of the village - the pond. Families sat around it, their children playing and feeding the ducks. A dog tried and failed to catch the ducks but was content to chase a ball.

And a group of senior citizens picnicked by the water's edge.

Across the B2123 and on to village way, we gazed upon a beautiful cornfield.

I consulted my map and, yes, this was the right place, shimmering in the hot July sun. To the left was the track over the railway line, called Turnpike Piece, and the boundary on the right was a copse grown to hide the roundabout.

I looked ahead towards Sussex University, but the buildings blended into the Downs and the trees hid the odd modern carbuncle jutting up.

Turning around, there is the future South Downs National Park - not a wilderness but a living, breathing, working environment.

The overwhelming feeling I had standing there was this cornfield was a gateway to that park.

To build the stadium, a new road would be built in Stanmer Park to aid university expansion and car parking for Albion supporters, with a fly-over over the A27, curving into the site via the dual carriageway which will be the new Village Way.

The stadium itself will be built of concrete, glass and metal and associated buildings will fill up the remainder of this site.

Finally, all this will be surrounded by security fencing. Nobody will be able to say this will be a pretty sight.

It is time to halt Brighton's urban expansion and Turnpike Piece is the perfect place. After two Inspectors' reports and a flawed reference from John Prescott, it is time to call a truce and leave this environment and Falmer village in peace.


J R Gilding, Sunninghill Avenue, Hove

12:07pm today

First time I've had the chance to read this.

I was waiting for them to say they fed the ducks.

 

[¤DãŃn¥ §êãGüLL¤]