… they wish!

It’s well known that we at Waverley Web are a cynical lot but even we are struggling to believe the depths to which Protect our little Corner (otherwise known as KA-PoW) will go to in their efforts to derail development at Dunsfold Aerodrome.

Imagine our surprise when, following a Dunsfold Park Google Alert that popped up on our screen this week, we found ourselves on the website of the Canadian National Post!

Apparently, one Clifford Davies, described by the Canadian National Post as,  ‘a long-time opponent of the proposal’ to build 1800 homes at Dunsfold Aerodrome decided to try to put a spoke in the wheel of the Dunsfold Developers by writing to the Commonwealth War Graves Commission alerting them to his concern that ‘construction at the Aerodrome might amount to the desecration of a grave’, despite the fact that he had never seen any evidence of his claim!

Well, he would, wouldn’t he; anything to delay and derail development at Dunsfold Aerodrome!

According to the Canadian National Post the anti-Dunsfold-Development-Diehards have also notified the UK Planning Inspectorate of the claim.

… anything to delay and derail development at Dunsfold Aerodrome. But with this one they’re not just scrapping the barrel, they’re desecrating the memory of all of the Canadian servicemen who were involved in the 18-week construction of Dunsfold Aerodrome in 1942. The very suggestion that those men would have allowed their colleague in arms to be left in the runway foundations simply beggars belief.

Paul McCue, the author of the definitive history of Dunsfold Aerodrome (Dunsfold: Surrey’s Most Secret Airfield), debunked the myth in his book and is quoted in the National Post’s article, saying he had never come across any proof of the claim and that he believed the rumour stemmed from the death of an Irish contractor who drowned at the site after his tractor fell into a pit filled with rainwater. ‘Local word of mouth eventually distorted this fact into a tale that an unfortunate man had fallen into the cement-laying machine and had subsequently been laid out somewhere in the runway foundations!’

Bad luck Mr Davies! But well done you for wasting so many people’s valuable time and energy chasing a Brothers Grimm fairy tale! Thank God there aren’t more public spirited citizens like you about … just you and all the other members of POW!

But the final word in this hapless tale of everyday anti-Dunsfold-Park-Development-Diehards must go to one Eugen Dinica from Beaumont, Alberta who, on reading the story in the Canadian National Post, reminded us all that:

So there you go Mr Davies, that’s your cue to write to the BBC and see if you can get them to declare the site a National Heritage Site. After all, surely, wherever Jeremy Clarkson has trod must forever be hallowed ground …

You can read it here: http://news.nationalpost.com/news/world/local-legend-of-canadian-entombed-at-wwii-airfield-in-u-k-cited-as-objection-for-housing-development