When Kevin Watershed and friends Brian Blisterhound and Eddie Candlestick learned that Bartholomew’s strip, a cherished haunt of their past, was up for sale and being plundered by greedy developers they decided it was time to protest. Now that protest has turned into a movement.
Save our Strip is a popular grass roots up swelling against a growing trend toward development of those spaces that we cherish. Spaces that represent memory and meaning to those that feel connected to them. Once it’s gone it’s gone forever, and, according to Kev, ‘that’s a long time’.
We all get a sense from time to time that progress is progress and you can’t stand in front of the JCB once it’s broken the ground, but that’s just what these three did once they heard that all planning objections had been ignored and developers had been given the go ahead to build all over this important natural space.
It was Eddie who recalled that they used to catch frogs and newts in the ditch at the south end of the plot. Kev put two and two together and figured that some species are protected and those funny little frilled amphibians that they use to clutch in the palms of their hands when they were kids, could become the giant lizards that would force a stay of execution. He was right Great Crested Newts are protected…
The fights not over, in fact it’s only just begun…
We invite you to join our cause. If you’re passionate about your neighbourhood and want to find your voice, we need to add it to our chorus.
For people for places for posterity
We are looking to create an Ark where everyone can bring their story of being overlooked and overpowered by big business interest. Yes, we know people need places to live but sometimes that place is the wrong place, not just for you, but for everybody and everything. Only by joining together can our voices be amplified and heard.
The Ark is a creative installation that will become a repository for your memories and recollections of what you used to cherish and what you have come to cherish……tbc
