Rhyme for registration The hardy sheep on upland fell Have no way themselves to tell That greatly to their owner’s cost, Grazing rights may well be lost. The cattle munching winter feed Unfortunately cannot read. They dream of spring when they can stand In lush, green grass on common land. Children play and ramblers ramble. Small, tough ponies graze and scramble. The Georgian house looks on the green, As England’s greatest cricket scene. The ghostly barons haunt at nights Anxious about manorial rights. While Happy Hampstead is the joy Of every London girl and boy. Three years is all too short to save A part of British heritage, So register with seemly haste The commons, greens, manorial waste.  Forty years ago, in spring 1967, this verse by  Mary (Micki) McArevey, our then assistant  secretary, was published in our journal.  We were at that time embroiled in commons  registration.

Mixed Messages
Photo:  Rodney Legg

Shall I go, or shall I stay?  Public path or prohibited place?  Within yards of Holton Heath railway station in Dorset, rights and restrictions are already in conflict on the ground as parliament votes for more security no-go areas on a draconian scale.

 

Whimsical Watford
Our local correspondent near Watford successfully got gaps gates and kissing gates to be formally preferred to stiles in Watford's planning policy document, the district plan. The borough then decided to put kissing gates into the glossary; here is the glossary entry:
 

Kissing Gates
Kissing gates are pedestrian gateways that prevent animals to pass through. The gate rests in the closed position, but allows pedestrians to push and pass through, and two persons can kiss one another over the gate.	a 'spill holder' titled The Kissing Gate

OSS home page