[WillowTheWhisp]

Originally Posted by Mancie

Iv'e seen it all.. people can post statements that amount to calling for mass murder, but if you dare to show small regard for a tree that will probably survive the rigours it has seen,then you are blasted!.. it really does seem to to get out of hand.. I do wonder what the first impressions to this site must be.. like my own that judged members as neo nazis that had little regard for people with the opinoin that differed from there own.. my opinion has changed but beware.

It may possibly survive, but it won't match the rest. A matching set of trees (whether we actually liked or approved of the choice of tree) was planted on Broadway at the expense of us council tax payers and now that one of them has been vandalsed it will either have to be replaced at the expense of us council tax payers or remain forever there (which knowing HBC is the far more likely scenario) in it's lopped-off vandalsed condition as a reminder of the mindless yobs who frequent our town centre. But hey-ho nobody died so it doesn't matter. It doesn't matter that it is illustrating to the casual visitor that Accrington residents are so used to wanton destruction that they don't even bother when the mess isn't even cleared away for a whole week. Some of us would like to attract people to our town, attract better shops which would encourage more people to come here. We see this as one more step on a slippery downward slope instead of another rung up the ladder.

Yesterday I was in town with a bit of time to spare (the queue in the post office wasn't as long as I'd expected it to be) so I thought I'd have a stroll round and look for some Christmas pressies. Good Grief it finally came home to me how pityfully few and far between are the shops which actually stock nice tasteful items. I don't really want to be buying presents from pound shops and charity shops. Shops I once would have gone to are no longer there. Do we really want the town to deteriorate even further or would we like to see it rise like a phoenix from the ashes (or in this case rubble and mess) and go on to greater heights? I did find a nice shop or three in Warner Street and managed to get a few things.

Think of it this way. If you'd spent your hard earned cash on a lovely new car and parked it outside in your driveway, then somebody comes along in the night and rips the bonnet off just for the sheer fun of it. Never mind, you can always put a piece of rusty old corrugated iron there in place of it. That will keep the engine dry, it will serve its purpose. It will also look bloomin' awful and I'm sure you wouldn't be proud to drive your vehicle anywhere you could be seen by anyone who knows you.

Hopefully the first impressions of this site will be of people who actually care about their envronment and not of people who think it doesn't matter how much destruction takes place.