Weather
Brunel's genius is matched only by Swindon's shame
From the Swindon Advertiser, first published Tuesday 29th Oct 2002.
I WATCHED the recent BBC TV programme Great Britons about Brunel and his staggering feats of genius in creating the Great Western Railway, the Clifton Suspension Bridge and the first transatlantic liner; but it made no mention of Swindon, its superb railway station and workshops and the exquisite model village he created for the workforce.
And as I watched I felt ashamed; ashamed of what we have done to Swindon in recent decades, its monstrous ill-proportioned Brunel Tower, its bland, standardised everywhere and anywhere shopping centre, its ferociously bleak and ugly car parks, office blocks and other public buildings, its filled-in canal which might be carrying so many of the lorry loads on our roads, and the wanton neglect of many fine public buildings of the era. I was ashamed of the extent to which we have betrayed the heritage of Brunel's creative genius and have allowed our town centre to be degraded with ugliness, tawdriness and money grubbing greed. But when will it stop?
John Papworth
Fourth World Review
High Street
Purton
Local Advertisers
Local Information
Enter your postcode, town or place name
