Message of support from Griff Rhys Jones

Ten year Leon Howe has been doing an amazing job of contacting famous people to ask them to help with saving The Three Cups AS A HOTEL. Leon has recently received an email from Griff Rhys Jones (who presents the BBC TV Restoration series) supporting the campaign and begging the building owners "to listen to what local people are saying".

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Message for the meeting of Friday 16th October

Sadly, I was not able to get from Manchester to Lyme Regis for the meeting last Friday so I sent the following message with my apologies. I wanted to emphasise that there is more at stake than the number of hotel beds available in West Dorset.

Please accept my apologies for absence. I would very much like to be with you this evening, but circumstances do not permit. Therefore I have asked if this statement could be read out.

When I visited in 2004, I only wanted a cup of tea – and a scone – well a Dorset cream tea would have done nicely. But I wanted to enjoy it in the lounge of The Three Cups Hotel where JRR Tolkien spent many of his holidays. You wouldn’t have thought that was too much to ask. You would expect in a well-to-do seaside resort, with a rich literary history, that such a famous inn, with its central location, would be open in the month of August. But it was definitely closed for business.

“Something ought to be done about this”, I thought, but I would not have known where to start were it not for several other characters who I must implicate. I signed a petition complaining about this sad state of affairs, started by Hugh Dunford Wood, in Bob Speer’s Sanctuary Bookshop. Things might have ended there had it not been for Greg Wright who encouraged me to start my blog and web-designer David Moss who helped me. And I suspect that there are a number of people in this room who have a lot to answer for. I would defy anyone with a sense of history to spend more than a day in Lyme Regis without coming under the influence of the literary and political traditions of this place. It is no accident that I, who trained as an engineer, will be writing an article this weekend discussing the influence of GK Chesterton on Tolkien. And if anyone - who knew me before 2004 - is surprised that I am now very interested in politics I would have to say that there is something about the ‘Pearl of the Dorset Coast’ which inspires people and gives them a vision of a better world.

It was a literary connection which first attracted me to the Three Cups Hotel but there is a parallel between the film of the French Lieutenant’s Woman and my involvement in this campaign. Just as the screenplay of John Fowles described real life and film-making influencing each other, so my part-time blogging and interest in the affairs of Lyme have mirrored my growing concern in politics nationally. In fact, I think what the people of Lyme have achieved in organising themselves, and making politicians take notice, should be an inspiration to the whole country. As the issues have been publicised, local people have realised the importance of pubs and hotels to their communities and the tourist trade of the area, and have begun to speak out. Old inns such as The Three Cups also represent something of our national character which must be preserved for the sake of social well-being. And environmental and economic well-being. They must not be left to rot!

It would be easy to get discouraged. But in Lyme you have to put on a brave show, “Rebel Harbour”. Now, in no way am I suggesting the use of force to achieve our ends but I think the Monmouth Rebellion suggests that the status quo need not be accepted and as long as we have democracy, we should look to revive true government of the people, by the people, FOR the people. I think that the campaign to save community pubs and The Three Cups has gone a long way to achieve that. KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK!

P.S. Click here if you would like to read my article on Chesterton and Tolkien.

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Public Meeting - Friday 16th October

If you want to support the campaign to save The Three Cups as a HOTEL, don't miss the meeting at 7pm in the Woodmead Halls in Lyme Regis. From past experience, you will need to get there early to get a seat!

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Stephen Fry adds his support

The actor Stephen Fry has added his support to the campaign to save The Three Cups as a HOTEL. Click here to read a report in the Bridport & Lyme Regis News.

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Protest March - Sunday 11th October

If you live in or around Lyme, don't forget the protest march on Sunday 11th October, starting at the Amusement Arcade, on Marine Parade at 2pm. Again, organised by Leon Howe, this march will be a precursor to the Public Meeting on the 16th! Please go along to support this event to Save The Three Cups as a HOTEL.

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Important Events

Don't forget to visit the campaign web site, Save The Three Cups HOTEL, for details of the protest march on Sunday 11th October and the meeting at the Woodmead Halls in Lyme Regis at 7pm on Friday 16th October. There are going to be some very exciting developments at the meeting!

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Dorset - The place to be

The Daily Mail has an article today on the growing popularity of the Dorset coast for UK holiday makers. Click here to read the article. So there will be a need for more hotel beds. And why not draw in more tourists by opening a world famous attraction: the hotel where Tolkien, Jane Austen, Tennyson and Chesterton stayed and where Jeremy Irons acted?

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A Song to Celebrate the Three Cups!

The Shanty Theatre Company who recently produced a play about The Monmouth Rebellion in Lyme Regis, called Rebel Harbour, have written a song to celebrate the rich cultural history of The Three Cups Hotel.
Click here to listen to the song.
Click here for a review of the play.

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For sale? No. So, Compulsory Purchase ASAP!

West Dorset District Council say that "no prospective buyer has come forward to purchase either the Old Swan or The Three Cups". That's because Palmers have refused to put them up for sale.

If WDDC would care to make some enquiries, they would find several prospective buyers for The Three Cups and that Lyme Regis is desparately short of hotel beds. So The Three Cups could be bought and sold at a profit under existing legislation. They would also find that the vast majority of residents in Lyme Regis want to see The Cups re-opened as a hotel and not gutted in the interests of Palmers' property development schemes. The councillors of WDDC were elected to serve the people of their area. Isn't it about time we saw them doing just that? Every day they delay, Lyme Regis loses money and visitors turn away disappointed.

Watch out for more detailed reporting in the local press around Lyme Regis.

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