Letter from Major K.M. Egleston - TrustNews May 1990
The Editor is very pleased with the response to Colin Stansfield Smith's article (February 1990) and one of the ,letters received is published below:
From Major K. M. Egleston
Sir,
I admired Colin Stansfield Smith's masterly view on Winchester.
The problem is how to get his views across. The difficulty with Winchester is that for a very long time the majority of the City Council has had little environmental pride in the city. No city with such pride could possibly have imposed on its citizens the Brooks Development - short term monetary gain - long term lost opportunity. In this respect Winchester is unlike, say Chester, Durham, Norwich, where there is an inborn ethos of Civic Pride.
How then does one instil a City Council with pride in its inheritance? One of the solutions I see is that the Winchester Preservation Trust, with its influential and knowledgeable membership stretching far beyond the bounds of Winchester should take a much more positive and active role in helping Councillors, who are always changing, to understand their city.
My first suggestion would be to initiate a visit to York. There it will be remembered twenty years ago the city had very little pride in the urban, historical and architectural qualities of the city. The fact that this has now completely changed, and it shows, is almost entirely due to the influential York Civic Society.
There is a lesson here both for the Winchester Preservation Trust and for the city.
Yours faithfully,
KEITH EGLESTON
Weston Patrick
Basingstoke.