Further to the fun and games over the proposed skatebowl in Liss, presumably it will come complete with the necessary meters and insurance. I knew Herbert Charles Newman Collard quite well, having done work for him over a number of years.
He was a man of character and a brilliant businessman and a great benefactor to Liss for, without him, there would have been no Newman Collard Playing Fields.
I respect him, but when siren voices were raised describing the playing fields as 'a mil
lstone around the necks of the people of Liss,' he became rather cross.
'What more do I have to do to please these people?' he cried, although what he actually said was not quite like that since he had a command of the English language and knew all the naughty words, which he used with great effect.
His original idea was for the bottom end of the playing fields to be used for bowling greens where those of riper years could disport themselves while the younger and more energetic played rougher games further up. Unfortunately, this friend of mine died before his idea could be brought to fruition, which is a shame since there is no remaining bowling green in Liss.
Harry Fifield
Hatch Lane, Liss
On March 31 this year, Petersfield learnt that it had been included in the South Downs National Park (SDNP).
To commemorate the success of the SDNP Campaign, waged by The Petersfield Society and later endorsed by Petersfield Town Council, the Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE) donated an oak sapling to the town.
The Petersfield Society took the view that this tree should be planted in a prominent position in the town, preferably at one of its entrance points, so that it could be seen by as many visitors as possible and symbolically represent the entrance to the park itself.
The society's first choice for a site was the Sheet link roundabout and, towards this aim, it gathered the support of the vice chairman of the campaign and the principal architect of the case to include Petersfield in the park – vice chairman of the (national) CPRE, the chairman of CPRE Hampshire, the arboricultural office of Hampshire County Council, an international arboricultural expert, and the society's own executive committee.
Fears regarding the traffic sightlines at the roundabout and the depth of soil required for growing the oak were dismissed as groundless by the county council, which had itself already planted trees – sadly to be vandalised subsequently – on this site some years ago.
The politicians then took the matter over. In April, the town council's grounds sub-committee, after briefly mentioning four possible sites for the tree (none of which included the roundabout), agreed that the tree should be placed "in a prominent position to enable the town's inhabitants to see it."
The Petersfield Society presented its case for the roundabout site, which would admirably fulfil this criterion, and demonstrated that there could be no interference with traffic sightlines, nor any problem with the potential growth size of the oak at this spot. The committee also resolved that the press be contacted for the public's views.
