Welcome

The impetus to set up this blog was for a long time just that: An impulse, but without form. I had become concerned over the future of the Battlefield open space just to the east of the city of Newcastle upon Tyne, a place that seemed, when I first saw it thirty odd years ago, to be an apology looking for a reason to exist. A bleak stretch of green with some scrappy tree planting, a hope and little else. Yet over the intervening years it has matured and taken on a shape which are remarkable facts enough. Battlefield exists, it has survived and flourished when much was against this ever happening. I shall be going in to that in greater detail later. Suffice to say now the very unacknowledged beauty of the place (yes, I think it beautiful) has counted against it – from builders and development. However, some years ago someone wishing to re-develop a neighbouring site wanted to turn large parts of Battlefield into car parking. I shall have more detail on this scheme which, I fear, may not have gone away but simply be 'resting.' It is to this end that I want this blog to stand up for this "unconsidered trifle" of inner city green space; the creatures that inhabit it and the people who use it. I will not however, be sticking entirely to my subject; I will use the space provided by this oasis as a 'battlefield' on which to reflect on other matters.