I used to visit a little known jem, tucked away above and over the coppice and moleside, a place I knew as "Gamblers Caves". As a child, then as a teenager, I, along with my friends, used to visit this place and explore and play around the caves that were situated there. i often used to wonder why nobody ever capitalized on this area of natural beauty with its unusual caves, one of which had an entrance larger then a large house. I used to walk up there with my mates, walk up there with my faithful boxer dog, camp, picnic, explore, I had such fun and such happy memories. I often thought that picnic tables could have been sited here, possibly toilets, a car park could have been made, and the area could have been turned into a tourist attraction for walkers and visitors to our town. but alas all that happened in future years was that someone conducted a survey, realised the rock was worth mining, and took it upon themselves to blast the rock, distroy these natural caves and basically decimate what was a wonderful place, high up above the town. Now I have to explain to my son that we can never visit the caves ever again, I think its sad that what was a natural, potential attraction has been effectively "blown up", and i think its typical of this council to miss the very things that are staring them in the face, the things that make this town what it is, or what it was, the old grammer school has long gone, scared heart church, the old baths, the mansion in oakhill park, victoria hospital....... these and others, all gone. Would be interested to hear from other local folk with memories of gamblers caves and hope councillors take note of the distruction their decisions cause and to consider their actions in future, otherwise we will also see the loss of maybe the arcade, the market hall and any other few things we have left that we can have pride in. Take note this town is in your hands, lets leave something for future generations before it is to late!
