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28/08/2008 15:14

We Support Melton First

Please spread the word...

Its easy to help Melton First to keep Melton's heritage for the community. To be successful we need your messages of support, demonstrating that the public actively agrees with what we're trying to achieve.

...Register old hospital closures HERE!

Melton First has discovered that old hospitals are being sold off around the country, despite community protests such as ours. We believe that where there is strong community interest and a viable plan for the future of an old hospital site, then the community to whom that hospital was originally bequeathed should have first option to purchase it back.

Melton First is launching an appeal to assess the number of War Memorial and other old hospitals that are being sold off. We intend to lobby parliament to change the law that presently allows the NHS to sell the country's heritage and memorials to the fallen, to the highest bidder.

Please help us by registering any old hospitals in your area that have been or are about to be sold. Thank you.

Scroll down for some of your messages

Spread the word and you'll really be helping us. Just writing a short letter of support could make all the difference. Please send us a message and tell others about this site.

Spread the word and tell a friend:
Send a friend a link to this site By filling in this simple form. Melton First does not give out e-mail addresses to 3rd parties.

You can also e-mail us directly with more detailed letters and messages: support@MeltonFirst.co.uk

Post us a letter of support:

Melton First
Steans Yard
12 Burton Road
Melton Mowbray
Leicestershire
LE13 1DJ

Some of your messages...

Re: Melton Mowbray War Memorial Hospital
Thank you for your letter regarding the fate of the War Memorial Hospital. I have been using the War Memorial's Out-Patient facilities for several years now. It is always a pleasure to come here and it would be sad indeed if the building and grounds were removed from public access and use.

I can see from your letter that your group's proposals are well thought out and I would like to offer my full support for them.

I am not aware of what Melton, Harborough and Rutland PCT have planned for the War Memorial site and I would hope a little more thought would go into its disposal rather than simply passing it onto the highest bidder with no regard to its community value.

I would like to offer my strong support for your scheme and I would hope that the PCT would give it the consideration it clearly deserves.

Mr J N Davison
Consultant Orthopaedic Surgeon

I'm writing in support of the Melton First group who are fighting for our right to keep the War Memorial Hospital site for the people of Melton Mowbray, as was intended by the late Col Dalgeish.

Melton First has promised that their regional arts project will be a genuine commitment to the community. In my view this is a wonderful way for the War Memorial Hospital site to be kept for Melton Mowbray for the future.

Time is running short, and I would urge the people of Melton to act now and submit letters of support to Melton First and to your local newspaper before our heritage is lost to us for ever.

Mrs Betty Fowell, Melton Mowbray

I write in support of the proposal by Melton First to create, amongst other creative elements, a performance 'bowl', as part of the redevelopment plans for the War Memorial Hospital.

I have been involved in the performing arts for more than twenty years, living for most of that time in Melton Mowbray, and, from 1993 - 2003, working as a drama lecturer at Brooksby Melton College. I am convinced that a new, open-air performance space, based around the natural environment of the waterside area of Hill House, would be of immense benefit, both to local and visiting performers, whether that be in the area of drama, dance or music. Open-air performances of Shakespeare, for example, have been instrumental in attracting new visitors to many different locations, such as Ludlow, Chiswick House, and - more locally - Stamford.

Melton is fortunate to have one excellent performance space already in the college theatre, and the proposed 'bowl' would open up a whole new set of possibilities for outdoor concerts and performances that would undoubtedly enrich the cultural life of the town and its surrounding area.

Dr Neal Swettenham
Lecturer in Drama, Loughborough University

I fully support the initiative being taken to keep the site and buildings of the War Memorial Hospital for the use and benefit of the all members of the community Melton Mowbray.

It is outrageous that this site, bequeathed as a gift to the residents of Melton could even be considered to be the property of the PCT or any other quango irrespective of whether the members of such 'responsible authority' are elected by the community or nominated by interested parties.

To lay claim to the facilities so clearly established when this site was donated to the town is nothing short of fantasy. The then and subsequent management bodies have enjoyed full use of all the facilities and grounds. That does NOT confer ownership.

Such dedication and focus which would significantly contribute to the much needed regeneration of Melton Mowbray is to be applauded. The town is in desperate need of a multi - function community centre, close to central facilities.

I wish Melton First every success in their vision.

John A Herlihy

The Hill House Project is a great idea, as there is no where like this locally. So many people are interested in the arts and a project like this would be great for the local community and economy.

I am currently halfway through a degree in ceramics and a project like this would be really useful because of the exhibition space, studios and the shop were our work could be sold. It would also help me and many others to set up a career or studio.

It would also encourage more people to visit Melton and get involved in the arts at any age or level.

Good luck,

Emma Hall

I am writing in full support of the Melton First Appeal and to state that I feel very strongly that the War Memorial Hospital and Grounds should be saved for the people of Melton to enjoy - as was the original intent. The grounds and river are a haven for wildlife and should be promoted as a place of beauty for the townspeople and visitors alike to enjoy.

Elaine Thompson
A resident of Melton Mowbray

I do not want the War Memorial Hospital site turned into another housing estate, after all the hospital was given to the people of Melton Mowbray and it should stay that way.

Good luck,
Dave

We refer to the item in the 'Melton Times' dated 11th March, which requested letters of support to be sent. We both fully support retaining the park land and the main hunting lodge and stables. This site with it's river boundary could become a really attractive area of the town especially if it was connected to the town station site and the canal reinstated.

The town would benefit from the tourists financially. Melton can never compete with Leicester and Nottingham for shopping but we could have a healthy leisure/tourist industry if these two sites were developed properly. It would also benefit the wildlife. To put a housing estate on this beautiful green area and a DIY store on the town station site would be to condemn Melton to become just a dormitory town for people working and shopping in Leicester, Nottingham, Grantham and Loughborough.

Gill & Andy Cross
Gloucester Avenue, Melton

I am writing to add my full support to those campaigning to retain the War Memorial Hospital site for the benefit of the Melton community. We cannot allow the selfless generosity of a brave soldier to become the quick buck of a property developer. The site has served the community for over eighty years and justice demands that it must continue so to do.

There can be absolutely no doubt that Colonel Dalgleish's generous gift in 1920 of the site and his subsequent funding of the alterations for a War Memorial Hospital was an act intended to create both a community asset and a war memorial in perpetuity. I am frankly surprised that a sale can be even considered that neither benefits the local community directly nor continues to memorialise local people who gave their lives in defence of this country.

Moreover, as one of the few remaining buildings in the town associated with Melton's rich historic past, the property has considerable heritage value. Under its former name of Wyndham Lodge it provided my great great great great uncle Colonel Charles Wyndham with a delightful base from which to pursue his passion for foxhunting in the 1840s and 1850s, as vividly captured by Whyte-Melville in Riding Recollections. Having fought at Waterloo and later commanded the Royal Scots Greys, Colonel Charles would have fully supported the spirit and purpose of Colonel Dalgleish's gift and equally would be horrified that both might be brought to an abrupt end.

Of course times change and the NHS and Primary Care Trust have doubtless taken a well-informed decision in relocating the provision of healthcare. We now need a period of grace in which to determine a suitable and sustainable community purpose for the site and to explore opportunities for raising the necessary capital which might include lottery funding. If such an opportunity is refused it is nothing short of a wholesale betrayal of Colonel Dalgleish's gift and of those whom the site was intended to memorialise.

I urge the Melton, Rutland & Harborough Primary Care Trust to support the bid by Melton First Action Group and keep the War Memorial Hospital site in the community.

Alexander Ashworth,
Wimbledon

I write in support of Melton First's plan to keep the Melton War Memorial Hospital for the community by turning it into a regional design & arts facility. Hill House Project also offers the town a means to attract tourism and substantially improve the local economy.

It would be a tragedy if one of Melton's few remaining buildings of heritage and one of the most beautiful town centre parklands was to become housing development for the few who could afford to live there.

As the Hospital was originally bequeathed to the town in 1921 it is only right and just that Melton First be permitted to purchase back the site for the use and benefit of the community. I strenuously hope that the action group will be given all the help and support it requires to achieve this goal.

Paul & Tracy Jones
Melton Mowbray

Melton First - From the Land to the Hand