General Chat

Had to laugh - Winchester University will be unveiling a £23,760 statue of Greta Thunberg on March 30.
However, many locals have said a statue to a more local person would have been better, and most opted for Kev, the Big Issue seller.

Kev really is a tonic, he makes people laugh as they stroll down the precinct.
He's no longer homeless, but whilst selling the 'Big Issue', he also raises money for charities.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9392651/Locals-slam-Winchester-Universitys-plan-erect-Greta-Thunberg-statue.html

I,ve seen him on South Today. Didn’t he get an award or something.?

Nameslessone, he was nominated by the people of Winchester to switch the Christmas lights on, in 2017 :-D

Just like to add, the University has cut the number of lecturers, due to *checks notes* - lack of funding! :-S

Rollo, I couldn't agree more - and I said as much yesterday ...

see the Bristol Unrest thread at 15:46 on 22 March.

Always money available for the unnecessary. :-P

nameslessone
You are so right.

Our local council have bought a castle and a racecourse as well as a large Debenhams store in recent times.- some with huge loans.

I wonder what services they won't be able to afford in the months / years to come?

Do you think they'll convert Debenhams into apartments to rent, Gwyn? One of the larger empty stores in our small city was bought by the Uni and converted to student accommodation.

Our city's castle is also student accommodation now.

Another castle that was converted to offices where I worked before marriage was bought by a Local Authority after the offices were moved. It stood empty for years, being advertised as an ideal hotel site and the like - a white elephant whose upkeep was such that it began to look decrepit.

It was eventually bought by someone who turned it into his home but subdivided attached courtyard buildings for individual sale.

When the guy put his castle home on the market I took a look at online pics. He'd done a good job - if I could have afforded a few million I would have bought it as a holiday home! If only he'd reduced it to a million ;-) ;-)

It is now a hotel and I'm not sure whether it was converted by him or whether someone bought it from him. I'm also not sure whether it will be profitable but I'd take a punt on it going onto the market again.

Gwyn, a racecourse to boot! Will the LA operate it as such do you think, or will it become a sports and artistic venue?

You ratepayers are going to have to dig deep methinks!

Apartmentsi in Winchester - now that is a whole other story ;-)

Did Greta ever visit Winchester?

Right off-piste aren't we! :-D

Back to the subject of statues.

Yesterday, I heard that someone wanted to erect a statue of Vera Lynn on the White Cliffs. Apart from any possible erosion, I find it ridiculous although some family spokesperson was in agreement, naturally.

She was a singer among many (such as Ann Shelton etc) but Vera got lucky with a particular song - so why her and not the lyricist and composer?

I am, of course, against any such statues to individuals, as I wrote previously, and in this instance there are many more worthy of being commemorated anyway.
What a stonking waste of money!

A music scholarship to aid underprivileged youngsters would be a more worthy cause, in my opinion.

Nameslessone - no Greta has never visited Winchester!
I believe the 'powers that be' chose her because she is 'inspirational'.
But then, so is Kev - and he's local! :-D :-D

We have a recently 'built' (over an unused retail outlet) Travelodge in Winchester High Street :-S

JoyLouise, I so agree!

MW- what happened with the affordable flats issue?

Having lived and worked in the area of the white cliffs in the past I don’t remember anyone saying we needed a memorial. What they really need is a King Canute figure holding back the tide of ........

They've built some old people's flats with a warden, that are very expensive, with about 2 for 'the poor' to rent.
They've also built some on one of the Housing estates, and are contemplating building another load of flats on the one piece of greenery, on another estate
Where I used to live, there were once warden flats for the frail and elderly, but it was deemed too expensive, so the flats were rented out to people over 40, and the communal lounge was turned into a Food Bank.
Because, of course, why should the frail and elderly be entitled to a modicum of independent living? Much easier to put them in a care home.

Maybe it was somewhere else. I thought it was Winchester that had agreed to flats in the centre with so many being affordable only for the builders to build them and refuse to make any affordable.

names, her friends and family want it and the sculptor has already been chosen.

What an utter waste of money to stroke someone's ego, is what I think.

Although I am against statues, I can think of people much more worthy: an ordinary. soldier, sailor or airman, medics, home guards, land girls, Wallis Barnes, Monty, Turin, I could go on but you get the gist.

Amazing that the statue is going to help no one when a music scholarship or such could have helped many.

In a small coastal town (Seaham) in our region there is a beautiful statue as a memorial to WW1 forces of a tommy sitting. It sends shivers down your spine when seen in the flesh. A smaller memorial of a DLI soldier from the Korean War has been erected in our marketplace (Durham) too. No glory for one person there but acknowledgement of all who served during conflict.

Google Seaham Tommy and see if you agree with me. It is perfect as far as I am concerned.

You are right and they say it is close to the memorial so it is in the right place.

What about the environmental impacts of creating such a statue.

Greta would not be impressed ;-)

'Twould be hilarious if Greta grew up to be a bacon-butty loving, new-clothes-every-week, private-jet type of girl, wouldn't it! :-D

Saw it on the local news.
Oh thought he’d never seen her so animated. I had to look twice to see what she was doing with her finger.

That finger is crying out for unmentionables to be added!! :-D