Let's move to...Lichfield

The Guardian asked for comments on Lichfield in preparation for an article in the Weekend magazine. Seeing as I was currently not at work, I sat down and wrote a few positive and negative comments about the town in which I live, and have lived for a long time. This is what I sent:

"Positive things about living here:

Good train links for commuting into B'ham
Good access onto motorway network via M6Toll
Not too many big shops - the little individual shops are still here and full
of interesting things [Dam St, Market St, Tamworth St]
Cathedral - a real gem that most people ignore when they live here
Lichfield Festival
Good secondary [King Edward VI] and primary schools [St Joseph's RC, St
Michael's CE]
Lots of places to eat out [The Olive Tree, Qmin, Ask] and loads of pubs
Local community hospital including maternity, physio, minor injuries[24hrs]
and renal dialysis
Nice little university campus which means local people don't have to travel
to study - but the range of courses could be widened...

Negative things about living here:

Too many ticky tacky boxes being thrown up on the outskirts - and more
threatened
The 'new' shopping centre is going to be awful if the plans are anything to
go by
No cinema - a trip to Tamworth, Burton or into B'ham needed
No Sainsbury's - the choice of supermarkets is dire, and all small...
Price of property for first time buyers - its high"


This is what they printed:

From the streets of Lichfield

Caroline Haddon "Not too many big shops: the little individual shops are still here - try Dam Street, Market Street, Tamworth Street - and full of interesting things. There's a nice little university campus, so local people don't have to travel to study. But there are too many ticky-tacky boxes going up on the outskirts, and the 'new' shopping centre is going to be awful. There's no cinema, and the choice of supermarkets is dire."

If you read the whole article though you can pick out some of my points which they used but didn't credit to me. But it was great to see my name in print, and a pleasant shock to realise that they actually use the information sent in to compile the article...

Let's move to...... Lichfield, Staffordshire