The Coppice

[panther]

i remember when the coppice had no trees!!
i think they should remove some, so when you have nearly put your lights out trying to get up to the top, ya then could see accy properly instead of bloody trees!!
like cashman says they horrible big things!!

[panther]

....then maybe they could do this afterall
images.jpg

[disco]

Oh I remember the coppice without the trees, and without the wildlife. Do you really think young broad leaf trees would have survived in just a few inches of soil.

[blazey]

Originally Posted by panther

i remember when the coppice had no trees!!
i think they should remove some, so when you have nearly put your lights out trying to get up to the top, ya then could see accy properly instead of bloody trees!!
like cashman says they horrible big things!!

how likely is it you'd even bother to go up to the top of coppice whether they cut some trees down or not. I've never seen you show an interest in the outdoors in the time that i've known you, unless you are a different god mother to the one that I know

[panther]

ya what im always going for walks!!

cheeky sod

i love the countryside

[blazey]

Originally Posted by panther

ya what im always going for walks!!

cheeky sod

i love the countryside

I expected you to call me a cheeky bitch but I thought I would wait and see what the response was, and I wasn't far off. I just can't imagine you taking time out to actually walk up the coppice, and I'm not saying I can be bothered either, so it makes two of us.

[panther]

what are you saying young lady???

i always used to go up when i was little ...my granny lived nearby

and ive took the kids up a few times, and played in the park

[Madhatter]

As an outsider with no previous knowledge other than in the last two years.
Get rid of the trees, plant native species.
Get rid of the horrible brick shelter, or replace it with a brick shelter that has decorative brick ends, perhaps with a oak tree design carved into them.
the monument needs restoring and making the centre piece of a bigger monument which should have been done as part of the panoptican project. When permission was refused, the artist brief should have been changed.
Put the monument at the centre, have radial paths coming out with blue led lines in, each leading to a bench or a standing stone. You wouldn't need big stones, you could use squares as big as the centre stone of the existing monument. Get local people to carve designs that say what Accrington or the coppice is all about to them, you'd hold local stone carving sessions to do that. Micheal Disley does stone carving workshops.You could do the benches like that too, bigger oblongs carved on all four sides. Do some carvings past, some present. All lit up by white led up lighters. Your only limit is your budget. I don't think you're likely to get the sort of figure required to do that sort of project now, which is a shame because people clearly want something.
End of the day it's YOUR coppice n what i can't understand is why when the panoptican project was rejected was you not asked what YOU want and more suggestions and design briefs put out based on what was suggested.

[WillowTheWhisp]

You have just come up with some far better suggestions than the 'official' artistic ones we were offered.

However, not being a local you wouldn't realise the the monument is close to the edge at the front of the Coppice so you couldn't have it in the centre of something but you could certainly have it as the focal point of something semi-circular. Your bench and shelter suggestions sound good but the trees would apparently present another problem as the top soil is too thin for the native species which is why they planted those hideous things which are currently there. I'm told that if it had been left bare then even more top soil would have eroded away. I still don't like them though.

But would like to see something similar to what you have described for the monument benches and shelter though. Maybe we should have a design competition for local residents.

Mind you when they had a design competition for a new Coat of Arms 30 odd years ago when Hyndburn was formed I won that and then they decided not to bother using it!

[cashman]

think its good to have an outsiders view, think they can look at things more objectively,than H.B.C. though not saying thats difficult.

[Madhatter]

I did wonder about how close to the edge it was, I've never actually been up there, only seen it off the 'motorway' . I've have been top o slate though the halo is amazing. It does stick out like sore thumb but I like it. There's a stone maze in rossendale valley, it was designed so it could seat a class of school children for field trips apparently, I like that idea to.

[WillowTheWhisp]

Where's the stone maze? I'd like to see that.

[No.9 Dream]

As someone who goes up everday with my dog there are a couple of points I'd like to make. 1. The shelter is used by more than "druggies & wino's" it's open on every side but only two are used due to vandalism. It's a great place to sit in and look at the surrounding views - Darwen tower from one end and Hamledon at the other. So yes the shelter ought to be renovated and maybe a couple more dotted about. 2. There was a map on the motorway end which depicted the various hills Pen Y Ghent etc but was nicked. 3. A proper ranger service would stop the idiots on scramblers wrecking the paths etc and the bridle paths need remarking too, between the motorbikes and horse riders not using the correct paths these are being eroded.

I like the singing ringing tree and the egg at Wycollar park places I wouldn't normally visit but because of these monuments in fact the egg would've made a good shelter.

[panther]

so which one of you lot as written on the stone at the top??....c'mon own up...lol, i know I have but that was about 20 yrs ago

[WillowTheWhisp]

I haven't.