Redgrave tribute excludes valley

MANY people will have found it at least vexing, perhaps more profoundly displeasing, so many times during the last few weeks, to have heard commentators relate, and to have read journalists' accounts, that Steve Redgrave is a native of Marlo

Re: Steve Redgrave's home of Marlow Bottom

MANY people will have found it at least vexing, perhaps more profoundly displeasing, so many times during the last few weeks, to have heard commentators relate, and to have read journalists' accounts, that Steve Redgrave is a native of Marlow, even though it made perfect sense to the world at large which certainly would not have heard of our smaller settlement.

On many occasions in the past, the town has been pleased to disassociate itself from the valley.

Indeed, I remember an earlier regular writer for The Free Press, Liz Deane, note that, when growing up in Marlow, she was permitted to peer over the ridge of Seymour Plain into Marlow Bottom, but never should she contemplate venturing into that bad land where all sorts of grotesque personages existed. The advice, seemingly, was at the time not altogether unfounded.

However, there is every argument for sharing ownership of this giant of the sporting scene; he is of Marlow Bottom blood, he was born, raised, and still lives here, while the town was the seat of much of his education, sporting inspiration, and provided the set for his earliest competitive meeting with water.

But what really hurts is the way in which Wycombe District Council has chosen, in the official homecoming on October 21, to exclude the valley community from the opportunity to give Steve its own specific welcome.

We need no great amount of the limited time he can afford to set aside for civic recognition, we ask for no money, we need no lofty concepts of PR planning, just 30 minutes or so for this population to shake his hand, say a few congratulatory words, perhaps present some token to remember the occasion, and, above all, meet a few of the people who have watched him grow to monumental manhood, but are now too frail to make it through the jostling crowds to see him in Higginson Park.

The council says that they necessarily constructed their plans long ago and it's too late to change.

I have found no example, from weeks ago, where they consulted, let alone invited to participate, any of the many organisations in Marlow Bottom who now feel left out.

A similar situation arose after Atlanta in 1996, when the Barn Club and the Residents' Association wanted time to make a small presentation, other members of the community wanted to see the gold and cheer the man, and the residents of Patches Field needed the opportunity to greet a hero. Only after a small number of unofficial valley representatives became very heated and vociferous did the council allow a short break in Steve's schedule, right here in the valley, for some informal contact to happen. It brought the biggest public street gathering ever seen here.

Now, allegedly, the council is not about to repeat history. This time their PR men are standing firm, and Marlow Bottom will simply be the starting point for a procession which will begin at 10. No time for anything here.

While I would strive to avoid embarrassment to Steve with tetchy argument at a time of immense pride for everybody, should it not seem obvious to the officers of WDC that valley blood can be as thick as town water!

J M Williams

An adopted valley dweller

Marlow Bottom