SISTON COMMON,SOUTH GLOS in July 1986.

Just prior to construction of the Ring Road.

I've finally set to and started the task of going through all that paperwork. A lot of it is too good to discard so I'm going to rehome it

.This is going to be an ALL DAY job

.This one is from circa 1960 when I was five or six. I took this photo myself on my little brownie camera. Back in the day when the Common was still grazed,by cattle,goats and geese

.circa 1975,blossomy hedgerows up to Siston Hill Farm on the top. This area is all now housing. The owners of Siston Hill Farm (who probably wanted to retire) sold their land to a development company who then had to participate in the public appeal against the next stretch of the proposed Ring Road around Bristol. Remember when we democratic things like that,even if they were a cover for shoo-ins,they were hardly going to leave a stretch of the Ring Road out,and the proposed alternative routes would have been just as invidious for someone. It's tough for people who follow the rules,work hard for 40 years,pay tax, eventually accrue enough money to buy that dream cottage in the countryside,even a fixer-upper then just when they are loving their rural idyll,they get a huge housing area built around them,or a motorway driven past or any other noisome thing. On the other hand it annoys me when callers in to radio say ,” it takes me over an hour to drive to my nearest Tesco” and I think but isnt that why you moved there!

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