1. 'My Grandad used to get the bus into
Weymouth from here and said that he took his dog Shoka onto the bus with him
one day. The driver asked if Shoka was his dog and when Grandad said yes, he
said, 'That dog's been getting on my bus every day alone, to go down to the
beach!'.'
2. 'As Weymouth has always been a busy
port, what about treating it as a 'nautical' gateway with a two-way directional
element to the sculpture to mark the comings and goings? After all, the ferries
have always meant you would come to Weymouth to go to France and the Channel
Islands. A number of the Pilgrim Fathers' ships left from Weymouth in the
carrying Dorchester families and it was through Weymouth that the plague (or
'black death') was introduced. Something nautical and relating to the Olympics
sailing events of last summer. The black death coming into Weymouth! Maritime
theme: Ferries, Pilgrim fathers, Spanish Armada, wreckers, plague, smuggling,
fishing
3. 'I remember the farm that was on the
site when I was a boy. It had a big white, five-bar gate into the farm with a
sign on the gate and on the sign was written one word; 'Eureka' which
translates as 'I've found it!'. It was a lovely place. Rocky Knapp – opposite
the turn off to Morrisons, was where the cows were milked and I can remember
the farmer stopping the traffic on Dorchester Road, when he drove his cows
across from the fields.
4. 'We used to play in 'Two Mile
Coppice' – it was like a playground for children and the bird life was
wonderful!' 2 Mile Coppice is an ancient woodland.
5. Something around fashion
and New Look's operations in the area. Something about the story of New Look
from market stall to multinational company.
6. Wildlife: Deer, Lizards,
slow worms, newts and birds on posts, casting a shadow in Sainsbury's
roundabout. Bird Life! Large black mats – used to capture slow worms and
wild-life to release in nature reserve. Black cage? Used to catch wild life?
Wildlife: Bats (rare breeds), newts, lizards, deer, birds. We have three Nature
Reserves: Lorton Meadows, Radipole Lake and Preston (Lodmoor). Also well known
for 'reed beds'.
7. Boot – with wild life under
it. “Grand Old Duke of York” nursery rhyme about marching troops up Bincombe
Bumps then wildlife under that has reduced in numbers.
8. Viking burials – beheaded
corpses found
9. Something evoking the
memory of the Roman Dorchester Road – now partially replace by the new relief
road.
10. The intersection of the
transport links (roads, railway lines, cycle paths and footpaths) at the site
11. Fossils and the Jurassic
Coast