Important Endorsements
Sir Michael Morpurgo
OBE, FRSL, FKC, DL, the author, poet,
playwright and librettist.
He is the author of War
Horse, and was Children's Laureate (2003-2005).
He sent us a handwritten card and said
"Of course I support your
brave and important effort to stem the tide of
intrusion into our precious places." He also said he was pleased to hear about the
connection with Saki.
His Farms for
City Children inspired our own description of
Manning's Pit as"fields for town
children"
Michael and his wife
Clare sent a donation towards buying Manning's Pit,
James Lovelock
CH, CBE, scientist, inventor and best selling
author, originator of the Gaia
Hypothesis. He invented the Electron
Capture Detector, and designed the Life
Detection experiments for the first Martian lander.
The Science
Museum in London put on a year long Exhibition
of his work.
He has visited Manning's Pit. All his four
children and several of his grandchildren have walked
there many times and donated towards buying Manning's
Pit. His son John
raised £1000 on a recent Sponsored Walk and his
daughter is Chair of the Friends of Manning's Pit.
He has also agreed to be
one of the Judges for our upcoming Saki Short Story
Competition.
Sir Richard Eyre
CH, CBE, film, theatre, television and opera
director.Sir Richard has won numerous awards.
His most recent film,
The Children Act, was released recently
and stars Emma Thompson. He was born in
Barnstaple and participated in Shaun Ley's Radio Four
Extra programme about Saki (In
the Lumber Room)
He has sent us a very supportive
message and will be one of the Judges for our upcoming
Saki Short Story Competition.
Ken Loach
Award winning Film Director. His film "Kes"
(1969) was voted the 7th greatest British film of
the 20th centry, and more recently his films "The Wind
that Shakes the Barley" (2006) and "I,
Daniel Blake" (2016) both received the Palme
D'Or Award at the Cannes Film Festival.
He wrote:
'People need homes -
but they also need green spaces. There is no
conflict between a properly planned housing
programme and the preservation of historic open
land. I strongly support saving Manning's Pit for
future generations to enjoy.'
Richard and Anne Williamson
Son and daughter in law of Henry Williamson ("Tarka
the Otter.") Richard is a naturalist and author,
and Anne is the author of Henry
Williamson's biography.
Richard and Anne have confirmed Henry's close
relationship with "Grannie Hibbert," his wife's
mother. Henry visited her in Bellaire and visited
Manning's Pit while researching Tarka the Otter.
Dr Sandie Byrne
Author of
"The Unbearable Saki"
and
The Poetry of Ted Hughes
Associate Professor Kellogg College,
Oxford. University.
Sandie Byrne took part in Shaun Ley's Radio Four Extra
Programme In the Lumber Room, that marked the 100th
year anniversary of Saki's death.
Dr Byrne signed one of
our petitions and sent an email message of support,
wishing us every success in our campaign.
Satish Kumar
Environmental and peace activist Satish
Kumar signed our Petition.
Satish is the Editor of Resugence & Ecologist
Magazine, and has been influential in environmental
concerns over many years. You can read more about him
on the Resurgence website:
https://www.resurgence.org/satish-kumar/
He is also an author, and supporters who live in North
Devon may especially enjoy this article:https://www.resurgence.org/satish-kumar/articles/favourite-walk.html
He wrote:
"I fully support your efforts to save Manning's Pit
and I wish you every success in
stopping the destruction of such beautiful
countryside."
Sir Jonathon Porritt
Former Chair of the Ecology Party and later Director
of Friends of the Earth
and
leading environmentalist. Many media
appearances.
Jonathon signed one of our petitions and made this
Comment,
"Our countryside is
disappearing,one development at a time. Local
communities are right to fight and fight again to
protect the places that are so special to them."
Peter
Christie
Well
known in North Devon most especially for his
knowledge of local history, he took part in Shaun
Ley's 2016 Radio programme In the Lumber Room that
commemorated the death of Saki . He was also helpful
to us when we were setting up the Exhibition on the
Museum in 2017.
Peter is an author and especially well known for the
many talks he gives on Local History. After
signing one of our petitions, Peter wrote this:
'Saki is one of my favourite
writers and his connection to this area
guarantees my support for preserving it.'
Peter has agreed to be one of the Judges in
our upcoming Saki Short Story Competition
Julia Bird
Poet, author of Hannah
and the Monk and Twenty
Four Seven Blossom.
She lives in London but has visited Manning's Pit many
times. Julia was the
Judge of The
Inaugural Manning's Pit Poetry Competition that
attracted
entries from across Britain and as far abroad as
India.
She was one of the first
to sign an online petition back in 2016, and made this
comment:
"Everyone needs a home -
so build more of them on brownfield sites."
Mark Manning
Mark is a musician and artist. His hard rock band
Zodiac Mindwarp and the Love Reaction had a Top
Twenty hit in the 1980s. As a writer he has
contributed to The Idler magazine, for example. As an
artist he has exhibited successfully and Damien Hirst
has bought a number of his paintings. Mark once lived
in Windsor Road and used to take his young son down by
the river to play there.
We were very grateful to Mark for sending one of his
paintings to be exhibited in our Museum Exhibition,
where it was a great attraction. Manning's Pit remains
important to him, although he lives in London now.
Trevor Beer, MBE
Naturalist and artist, who visited Manning's Pit
numerous times during his lifetime. He sadly
passed away in 2017.
This is a link to the letter he wrote to the
North Devon Journal about Manning's Pit.
He signed our first petition and made this comment "As a born and bred Piltonian I have known
Manning's Pit and the Bradiford Valley and Tutshill
Woods as a child. attending Pilton School and over
many years as a naturalist and nature writer. I will
fight where I can to save the site from development
and despoilation and trust it will be safeguarded
for wildlife, with its several rare species,a s well
as for the peace enjoyed by people."
Martin Kemp
Award
winning Film Director,
who has produced films for BBC/Channel Four/National
Geographic, etc. These include "In
the Footsteps of St Paul," with David Suchet,
and many documentaries. Martin has lived in
Pilton and made two important films to support our
campaign:
The Magic of Manning's Pit and
The Battle of Manning's Pit.
(these films are unfortunately not available for
viewing at present)
David Bellamy,
watercolour artist, countryside lover, leads painting
courses, producer of DVDs and presenter of
television series on watercolour painting in Wales.
Jenny
Keal,
pastel artist, author of books on painting, leads
painting courses, countryside lover.
Please note: Our online petition
was closed in November 2018 for technical reasons and
we have not had access to it since then. If you
signed it before then and wish to contact us for any
reason, please do so at manningspit@gmail.com
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