Protesters shout SAVE GREENWICH PARK on 11 October 2009
We like to be first with the news. This photo was taken half an hour ago and we estimate there were over a thousand people in Greenwich Park on a wet afternoon, most of them horrified at the prospect of the damage the Olympic Equestrian Event would do to the Park. Those pounding hoofs and crowds of people would damage the Le Notre Parterre and endanger those wonderful old chestnut trees which do so much to feed Chinese chestnut pickers each autumn. See also: Restoration after 2012 Greenwich Olympic Equestrian Event and Olympic Village 2012.
Was there anyone else there to see? Was anyone from the horribly-powerful media involved? any ministers in the crowd? It seems such a waste for it to go unnoticed (apart of course from Gardenvisit visitors and casual google-stumblers).
I saw one film crew there but of course they can’t be expected to edit and publish as quickly as your reporter!
What a load of old twaddle!!!
I for one am very much looking forward to Greenwich park hosting the Equestrian games. I am quite sure that any event will be worked around the existing structures and landscaping of the park. We should be proud to be showing off the park, not hiding away one of the great green areas of london.
I know what you mean: we should not let conservation and history get in the way of a good romp. If the arena does not go on the Le Notre parterre, where else in Greenwich Park could it go? And with regard to the conservation of the Castanea sativa: if areas twice the size of the tree canopies are fenced for protection, as they must be for safety, how can the equestrian course be accommodated?
I’m afraid you lost any sympathy at ‘uncooth (sic) crowds’. Why undermine your argument with judgmental garbage like that? Perhaps we should have guards based on all the gates, with a strict entry criteria based on the Victorian requirements for becoming a Lady or Gentleman.
Jericho: you are right and I have edited out the adjective.
Tom, could you make your point about fencing off trees to the organisers, LOCOG, who have opened an information centre in College Way, Greenwich until the end of the month? The latest cross country course is shown with no trees and no railings to the Flower Gardens in their October brochure and on their London 2012 microsite. Although they have been advised by an arboriculturist I doubt whether there will be the necessary clearances on the course where it runs along the avenue of chestnut trees on the Eastern side of the Park. It would be great if you could update the image you created in your December 7 blog showing the cross country course overlaid on a google map to see how close the course gets to the trees.
Sev, I will be pleased to update the drawing: please can you tell me where to find an updated plan of the Greenwich Park Equestrian Event.
I placed a link to my blog posts about the Greenwich Olympic Event on the London2012 website http://www.london2012.com/greenwich-park/home.html They ask people to have their say but the tone of the website compares to the spirit in which the BNP might ask people to ‘have their say’ about asking the population of the Congo to move to Kent.