Can anybody explain

[gfwgfw]

the pleasure of deliberately setting fire to a major attraction of my beloved rural Dorset

Let me explain

In Thomas Hardy's (famed Dorset author) time he wrote enthusiastically of his joys of being part of the Dorset heathland

Of course giant tracts of hitherto heathland have been rightly sacrificed to the modern needs

But one huge area, Canford Heath, has been nominated a special sight and enjoyed by thousands of East Dorset residence

Last night It was attacked by and arsonist, and the area of seven football pitches has been blacken and thousands heathland animals burnt to death

No doubt the arsonist will be arrested and at worst given a strong naughty boy/girl lecture

Tonight a slightly aggrieved Giant of Cerne Abbas

[Dark Knight]

how very sad Graham

was it an arsonist or due to the very hot weather? a lot of fires are started accidently started by things as strange as discarded glass bottles etc
if it is arson , the vandal should be made to pout it right and then jailed, mindless stupidity deserves a harsh sentence

[gfwgfw]

Evening Kev

It was definitely a person who set fire to the heathland

Why

Because of the CCTV images set up by the heathland wardens - this sadly is a regular occurance

But why does one/two persons get a thrill is my concern

ABTW do hope you are now settled and having fun in "Sceptre" land

Lubooo

Your favourite "country bumpkin", Archer loving rural Darzet friend

Graham x

[Silver_Shiney]

I used to play on Canford Heath as a little kid and my friend and I accidentally set fire to it very many moons ago. Fortunately we managed to extinguish it before it burned more than a couple of square feet, but it scared us spitless.

[Dark Knight]

Graham, I hope the culprits are caught and dealt with harshly

and we are settling in very well in Humberland, it is a fine place to settle

[The Monocled Mutineer]

No doubt some of these types of fires are caused by those wretched smokers who toss still lit cigarette butts out of cars and feel at liberty to stub out on the ground.

Derek Kane

[Mo2013]

The person responsible could be a pyromaniac

[Silver_Shiney]

The person responsible could be a pyromaniac

in which case, he/she/it definitely needs to be taken out of circulation.

[Mo2013]

The person responsible could be a pyromaniac

in which case, he/she/it definitely needs to be taken out of circulation.

Yes, of course, since someone like that is obviously ill, and a danger to society, rather than a mindless vandal.

[Boris+]

Hi Graham,

I am truly sorry to hear that this has happened - and if it is arson then a small minority have spoiled enjoyment for the majority.

Why set fire to something like this? Possibly because the poor little diddums thickos were bored and upset because they wanted to be celebrities but had neither the skill nor the energy or determination to achieve their target. QED they feel hard done by and so because they have been deprived of a celebrity lifestyle (which they think is all about party and bling) then they try and get either notoriety for their plight or sympathy by depriving others of the pleasure of visiting and enjoying such a lovely area.

Now then, before anyone starts having a go, this is simply my own personal opinion - however, maybe if we started at school teaching kids that there is a great life to be had without celebrity lifestyles and that achievement can be enjoyed at any level (it doesn't have to be F1 driving or top league sports or singing boy-bands). It wouldn't be teaching kids that there is no need to try and achieve, but that there comes a point when to aim for too high a target is tantamount to shooting oneself in the foot.

Arson is something I just don't tolerate.

Em

ps - see you soon!

[Mo2013]

Or it just might be someone who is terribly ill ......

[Silver_Shiney]

Or it just might be someone who is terribly ill ......

or, like me all those years ago, too young to understand the dangers and consequences.

[Dark Knight]

Mr Kane
even by your usual standards, your post takes your vendetta against smokers to a new low.

are you going to subvert every post on the forum to reflect your rather insular view of the world?

[Mo2013]

No doubt some of these types of fires are caused by those wretched smokers who toss still lit cigarette butts out of cars and feel at liberty to stub out on the ground.

Derek Kane

Derek, you are correct because it is indeed a fact that a great many fires around the world, both in the home and the countryside, are caused by the careless discarding of cigarette ends.

[The Tinker]

Have you all started 'rocking' yet

[gfwgfw]

Bleeding Heck

Another tract of valued heathland has been destroyed by fire

Ham Heath, full of wild life and nesting birds

How sad, and there is no doubt, an arsonist is abroad

[wolfie]

Hi Graham,

I am truly sorry to hear that this has happened - and if it is arson then a small minority have spoiled enjoyment for the majority.

Why set fire to something like this? Possibly because the poor little diddums thickos were bored and upset because they wanted to be celebrities but had neither the skill nor the energy or determination to achieve their target. QED they feel hard done by and so because they have been deprived of a celebrity lifestyle (which they think is all about party and bling) then they try and get either notoriety for their plight or sympathy by depriving others of the pleasure of visiting and enjoying such a lovely area.

Now then, before anyone starts having a go, this is simply my own personal opinion - however, maybe if we started at school teaching kids that there is a great life to be had without celebrity lifestyles and that achievement can be enjoyed at any level (it doesn't have to be F1 driving or top league sports or singing boy-bands). It wouldn't be teaching kids that there is no need to try and achieve, but that there comes a point when to aim for too high a target is tantamount to shooting oneself in the foot.
Arson is something I just don't tolerate.

Em

ps - see you soon!

You have obviously never been employed in the field of education then Em.

Aim high, was the motto at my grammar school and was the same ethos that staff applied to ALL pupils at the many educational establishments that I was associated with, over many years.

if you don't give students something to aim for, why bother educating them? They may not achieve their aim BUT they will have gone a long way to improving themselves on that journey, further than if you establish criteria which they can easily achieve, without effort.

Also sorry to hear of this gfw; we have the same happening in our part of the country; helicopters brought in to stem the blaze, firemen being taken off duty because of the extreme and dangerous conditions. Down to arsonists at the moment until further evidence can be obtained.

[Kendhni]

Just to expand on Wolfies point ... it always disappoints me when I hear of people setting the bar really low and then the number of times they fail to meet the target.

Just the other day someone was telling me about one of their objectives which was to complete timesheets on time and have fewer than X days off ... it is an embarrassment that such things pass as 'objectives' these days ... and worse if they are not met.

[Silver_Shiney]

I worked with a chap in the civil service in the early 80s. In those days (may still be the case) they were allowed 10 days off sick a year without loss of pay or anything.

He was on holiday one day and we needed to know if he'd set up an appointment for something or other, so looked in his desk diary. We were shocked to find that he had "booked" his sick days for the rest of the year.

[Dancing Queen]

That doesn't surprise me Alan, there were certain people I worked with and you could set your clock by them knowing exactly how long they would work before taking another "sickie"

[Kendhni]

I worked with a chap in the civil service in the early 80s. In those days (may still be the case) they were allowed 10 days off sick a year without loss of pay or anything.

He was on holiday one day and we needed to know if he'd set up an appointment for something or other, so looked in his desk diary. We were shocked to find that he had "booked" his sick days for the rest of the year.

I was once sub contracted to a government department and on the project managers wall was a large future time planner with all his staffs names down one side and several colours of sticky dots across the months. I can't remember the actual colours used but it went along the lines of
- red for public holidays
- blue for annual leave
- green for sick days
- yellow for duvet days/flex days etc.

I was surprised to see pretty much everybody had forward planned all their sick days. When I asked the manager about this his attitude was that 'you either use it or lose it'.
I was also surprised at how many forward planned 'duvet/flex days' were being shown.

[ChesterfieldJohn]

I worked with a chap in the civil service in the early 80s. In those days (may still be the case) they were allowed 10 days off sick a year without loss of pay or anything.

He was on holiday one day and we needed to know if he'd set up an appointment for something or other, so looked in his desk diary. We were shocked to find that he had "booked" his sick days for the rest of the year.

This doesn't just happen in the civil service, I worked for an American Company in Chesterfield and had a member of staff who I could tell you when he was going to be off sick.
Unfortunately, he played the rules that company had so all I could do was offer him assistance and not discipline him or sack him.

John

[Silver_Shiney]

Reading the last three posts, whatever happened to loyalty, integrity and work ethic?

[gfwgfw]

Back to thread with an update by OP

"Young man arrested and is being held in custody"

. . . . a wag in the Echo Post box suggested the unnamed man was named "Swan Vesta"

[Not so ancient mariner]

Are you sure the didn't have a couple of accomplices, Messrs Bryant & May?