Shrimpsvoices

imagine getting in your car, switching on the radio and hearing the recognised voice of a local media tart! Radio 4, You and Yours. Try listen again later. Came across well by the way.

Doh! She (Karen who put the piece together - friend of Mrs Shrimper) rang me Monday night to tell me when it would be on air and I completely forgot! I'll have a go on that listen again thing you mention.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/youandyours/

Listen Again column on the right. Piece begins on 22 minutes. Morecambe mention begins on 27 minutes. Turns out that I got in the car and started up literally in time for the first words about Morecambe!

It was interesting piece. However I think Morecambe got in there first with the Eric Morecambe statue and really benefited from it. Yes there are a lot more statues that have followed and I can remember one or two but none will capture the same kind of publicity again - in part because it was the first regeneration-based statue but also because he was so loved as a personality.

The funny thing is that everytime there is coverage of another statue, e.g. Les Dawson at Lytham, Morecambe and the Eric statue get yet another mention, and so the membery re-jogging continues.

On a separate note I think its wrong to build a statue to Wainwright. He was an intensely personal man and would have had no interest in the trappings of success or the furore that surrounds it these days. His books, their continued use and the walks and fells he's made so popular is all the rememberance he needs.

I think, as was said in the piece, if they are to build one, build it somewhere that will take effort to visit. The thought of driving to within feet of the statue somehow isn't right.

I'd narrowed it down to one of four people before even opening the thread - had Posh down as evens fav, Glenn you were 7-2!!

I thought there was only one true media tart and that ws Shrimpsscene

Wainwrights statue should be at the top of Hellvelyn. However whenever I use his books he always has 20 different routes up each hill and I still end up going a different way

matty wrote:I'd narrowed it down to one of four people before even opening the thread - had Posh down as evens fav, Glenn you were 7-2!!

Given that you were the one writing that comment, who were the other two? Well, okay, other one, because you obviously had Freez not far behind Posh...

Posh wrote:On a separate note I think its wrong to build a statue to Wainwright. He was an intensely personal man and would have had no interest in the trappings of success or the furore that surrounds it these days. His books, their continued use and the walks and fells he's made so popular is all the rememberance he needs.

Having now listened to the piece I disagree on that point.

I think that had he still been (just) alive and been asked if, after his death, the people of Kendal might use his name and affectionate memory to initiate something like this to remember him by - explaining the benefits it might bring - he'd have harrumphed (it's a proper word, look it up) and mumbled something like: "Please yourselves - as long as I'm not around being asked to shake hands with mayors and stuff, I couldn't care less!"

Wasnt he from Blackpool

shrimper wrote:

Posh wrote:On a separate note I think its wrong to build a statue to Wainwright. He was an intensely personal man and would have had no interest in the trappings of success or the furore that surrounds it these days. His books, their continued use and the walks and fells he's made so popular is all the rememberance he needs.

Having now listened to the piece I disagree on that point.

I think that had he still been (just) alive and been asked if, after his death, the people of Kendal might use his name and affectionate memory to initiate something like this to remember him by - explaining the benefits it might bring - he'd have harrumphed (it's a proper word, look it up) and mumbled something like: "Please yourselves - as long as I'm not around being asked to shake hands with mayors and stuff, I couldn't care less!"

Of course we'll never know but I think it was clear that our statue began as an affectionate tribute to Eric Morecambe by the people from his town.

I don't think this is. I think this is an opportunity for Kendal to create a sightseeing attraction based on the fact that he worked in Kendal (not born there or made the town famous). This article by Kendal's mayor http://www.thewestmorlandgazette.co.uk/ ... _his_way_/ (Loral and Hardy - hmmm?) leads on exactly that. To me that's not right and exactly why he'd reject it. Bandwagoning exploitation?

Interestingly, having had a quick look, apparently 80% of letters and comments to the Westmoreland Gazette were opposed. Additionally his nephew says the same. http://www.lancashiretelegraph.co.uk/ne ... ___nephew/

Of course both articles I've quoted mention the Eric Morecambe statue, and provide further publicity.