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By: - 30th December 2014 at 17:17 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
It would be interesting to know how much it costs to maintain.
Probably a fraction of what it costs to keep just one of the superannuated brass hats in gin.
By: - 30th December 2014 at 17:22 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
Zwitter
just added mine
By: - 30th December 2014 at 18:18 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
Does anyone seriously think a future Labour government would care more?
If they return in 2015 kiss goodbye to much more than the Biggin Chapel.
The Reds and BBMF for starters.
Many of them really do not 'get' the majority's preoccupation, as they would probably put it, with past conflicts.
I hope the Chapel gets the support it deserves.
By: - 30th December 2014 at 18:36 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
Signed.
I believe that most politicians can't remember more than 5 years......
mmitch.
By: - 30th December 2014 at 18:56 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
Is there any independent confirmation that this is in fact the case?
By: - 30th December 2014 at 20:15 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
Does the 'majority ' have a preoccupation with past conflicts ?
By: - 31st December 2014 at 09:34 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
Signed! Scandalous if true, I used to march past every week in the early days with 2427 Sqn ATC on the way from the Guard Room to the Sqn Huts. Regular church parades attended and I still pass by often even now. Can't be allowed to happen.
By: - 31st December 2014 at 14:48 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
Apparently Bromley council have had almost a million pounds for a few years now for a heritage center but haven,t released it all.!
This from a few years ago http://www.bromleytimes.co.uk/news/wrangle_over_biggin_hill_heritage_centre_for_battle_of_britain_heroes_1_1516679
The Chapel will be safe without the mod so no panic.
By: - 31st December 2014 at 15:50 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
Maybe I'm being dense here, but what specifically is this petition asking the government to do? It seems that the decision has already been made by the RAF to dispose of the site, future plans to ensure it remains open and accessible are being made, there is still well over a year to go, and there appears to be no imminent threat of closure.
By: - 31st December 2014 at 16:57 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
However, despite the wording of the petition, it is unlikely that the site will be closed and unavailable for public access. That is not the MOD's intention.
So no panic then.
By: - 31st December 2014 at 17:58 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
So back to my earlier question. What exactly is the petition asking the government to do?
By: - 1st January 2015 at 16:46 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
Happy new year, if you read Will Curtis post in the biggin bugle jan 2015 here http://www.johnwillis.co.uk/theclub/newsletter01jan15.pdf
They slate the airport openly for failing (in their opinion) to support the
heritage of the airport, all the time ignoring the fact that the airport has volunteered, for no reward,
to underwrite the cost of operating a heritage centre if it can be built and to underwrite the cost of
maintaining and protecting St. Georges chapel if and when the MOD decide to take it off their
books. It is difficult to see what more we might do to support the heritage of the airport.
Brief extract
By: - 1st January 2015 at 17:33 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
Happy new year, if you read Will Curtis post in the biggin bugle jan 2015 here http://www.johnwillis.co.uk/theclub/newsletter01jan15.pdfThey slate the airport openly for failing (in their opinion) to support the
heritage of the airport, all the time ignoring the fact that the airport has volunteered, for no reward,
to underwrite the cost of operating a heritage centre if it can be built and to underwrite the cost of
maintaining and protecting St. Georges chapel if and when the MOD decide to take it off their
books. It is difficult to see what more we might do to support the heritage of the airport.Brief extract
Yes, but with quotes like "money doesn't grow on trees" and spelling out their £6M business model then handing over a BoB heritage site like the Chapel to a commercial company is plain daft. What happens when times are tough? What happens when the airport is sold? What happens when there is a period of dis-investment due to a recession in their Business Aircraft commercial model and the Chapel needs a major cash inject?
All too risky and I believe that some of the £400,000 the Chancellor has just set aside for RAF Heritage Projects out of the last Autumn Statement should be ringfenced to keep the Chapel in Public hands. There are already too many new heritage aviation projects costing way too much money* that are seeing the loss of gems like this Chapel sink into total obscurity.
Gaz
* Like the uber expensive modern-art Lincoln Bomber Command Memorial (of which I am not a fan of - I prefer more classy memorials like the Bomber Command Memorial in Piccadilly).
By: - 1st January 2015 at 19:58 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
They were pleased od the resources that the chapel remembers, cut their boose bill and that would pay for the upkeep. Just signed.
By: - 2nd January 2015 at 10:33 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
If I was on the local council I wouldn't play the Government and MOD's game, I would just say ' can you come and knock the Chapel building down for us?' Or find out exactly which individual had decided to remove the funding for the Chapel and see if they wouldn't mind being quoted in the press. The trouble with these people who make the decisions is that they are overpaid cowards.
By: - 2nd January 2015 at 11:02 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
I really don't think that taxpayers money should be spent on religious establishments. This isn't to say that the men and women who took part in the Battle shouldn't be commemorated, they should be and they are, elsewhere.
Those who have a bee in their bonnet about this chapel should form a society dedicated to its preservation and seek private funds.
Regards
Posts: 506
By: *Zwitter* - 30th December 2014 at 17:12
You'd have thought they'd (AT LEAST) have let the last surviving Battle of Britain aircrew die off first... It seems our government are born of generation 'C'. I'll leave you to decide what C stands for.
"By March 2016,the Royal Air Force/Ministry of Defence are withdrawing all support from the Chapel. If no one or group takes on the responsibility of this magnificent Memorial Chapel, it will be closed without access to the public or church services.
This Chapel was built as a Memorial to Aircrew, who had their lives taken in World War ll, they fought and they died. We, today, have the freedom to forget."
http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/73191