No 24 Fleet Street is one of the buildings I mention in the New Swindon/town centre trail that I wrote in my Born Again Swindonian guidebook. The whole point of that trail – indeed the book – is to urge and encourage the reader to find the interest, the story – yes even the beauty – in the less obvious. It exhorts one to look up because so often that’s where you’ll find the aforementioned.
Churchward House, now housing offices, originally served as the Great Western Railway’s drawing office. It’s named for George Jackson Churchward CBE ( 1857-1933). Churchward served as the GWR’s mechanical engineer from 1902-1922.
With Swindon in 50 Buildings, I had to keep to a firm brief set by the publisher, Amberley. I had to stay central – nothing from the wider borough. And the buildings I wrote about had to be still standing – they couldn’t be ex-buildings. So in this series of Swindon in 50 More Buildings I’m redressing some of that. Ergo, though I haven’t yet, I will include at least a couple of buildings from the wider borough and, if only one, an ex-building. Namely, ,Old Town’s Corn Exchange aka the Locarno.
I’m not at all sure how the St Barnabas’ church murals came onto my radar. But onto it they came. Thus I felt compelled to include these astonishing paintings – and the church itself – in Swindon in 50 Buildings. While researching that book, myself and Royston Cartwright had a drive out to Gorse Hill – the location of St Barnabas to have a look. Sadly the church was closed but we got photos of it for the book.
I’ve had to neglect Swindon in 50 more buildings to make room for other projects. But a visit to STEAM and therefore a walk right past Heelis, prompted me to do a post about it.
While the SOS campaign didn’t apply to have the Oasis listed, it has both supported and fought for its listing. Ergo, the campaign welcomes the 1 December 2021 decision to Grade II list the Oasis Dome and lagoon pool.
Before I go any further let me stress that what follows is NOT an official Save Oasis Swindon campaign response to SevenCapital’s (7C) recent press release.
This week, the SOS campaign saw an important development.
Right out of the blue Damien Siviter, part of SevenCapital’s executive team contacted the campaign, requesting a meeting. Thus, on Wednesday of this week, two campaign representatives, Tony Hillier and Neil Robinson headed to the Park Lane, London offices of the development company.
An open letter to Seven Capital
To tie in with the Save the Oasis campaign’s rally/protest on Saturday 19th June 2021, community union Acorn are delivering this letter to the Seven Capital offices in London on this very day!
From one of the campaign team, Helena Williams Bowie, on the topic of the Oasis and inclusivity.
Back in 1972 when Swindon’s elders conceived the Oasis, the town had a population around half of what it is today. They knew back then the town’s population could and would have a rapid increase. And indeed, the expansion of Swindon continues almost 50 years on. Back then the administration in charge had a bold vision. Now we’re lacking facilities with double the population.
Poetry at the Oasis
So yesterday’s rally organised by the Save Oasis Swindon campaign, produced two perfectly poetic outpourings.
So yesterday we had a Save the Oasis rally in front of the Oasis itself. In this post I want to share the Oasis reflections from the 1970s that I spoke of at the rally. But first, some comments about stuff said on Twitter by a certain Conservative councillor and Cabinet member. And I’m saying this as me, a Swindonian, looking at things from the outside in.
