Leave children some wilderness to grow up in
The Post reported the understandable opposition of local residents at the prospect of a meadow at South Purdown being replaced by sports pitches for the nearby Fairfield School. More than half a century ago, I fondly recall as a young lad using these fields for book-based I-Spy activities which encouraged children to identify animals, birds, and the flora and fauna of our natural habitats. I hasten to add that my childhood world also included the excitement of playing cowboys and indians among the hedgerows.
If this meadow is lost, it can only deny future generations of children their imaginary doorstep forests. They will then increasingly turn to computers for the outdoor experiences so vividly described in Arthur Ransome's Swallows and Amazons.
To replace this tranquil grassland with sports pitches is archetypal of a council dedicated to the provision of Statist "civic amenities". If Fairfield School's proposed sporting facilities replace the existing fields, many people will have lost a local natural habitat. This is somewhat ironic in a society which is constantly parading South Purdown should be saved for those whose lifestyles do not fit in with Bristol City Council's (or indeed, Fairfield School's) desire to see the land given over to the human traffic which will be commensurate with organised games. Far better the continuing disorganised games of my boyhood on Purdown.
R L Smith, Knowle.
Something needs to be done about the city's congested streets
Comment on this story