The Dhoo Glass Experience

[Jimcalagon]

There's already the Manx Museum and the House of Mannanan catering for the Island's history, alongside smaller venues and large historical sites such as Castle Rushen and Peel Castle. If these aren't drawing in those elusive visitors, I don't see why anyone would think that a 'visitor centre' (a ridiculous name for what is essentially another museum) will make that much of a difference.

 

I can't be arsed trawling back though old posts to find out but I'm assuming Vinnie that you are not one of the people who moans about there being nothing to do on the island.

[mollag]

I thought the old "dhoo glas" explanation was put to bed as coach driver history, as i remember the juncton of the rivers is at Mc Donalds, just past the first milestone which was well out side the town, and to call a town "black silver" seems a tad odd.

 

I also seem to remember that the base of the name Douglas was "Doolish" meaning blackpool.

 

Could it be a Dept of Touristy howler?

 

Manx speakers dip your bread!

[VinnieK]

I can't be arsed trawling back though old posts to find out but I'm assuming Vinnie that you are not one of the people who moans about there being nothing to do on the island.

 

Not really - I'm generally pretty happy with what the Island offers. I certainly haven't been crying out for someone to build somewhere I can very occasionally visit to hear about nautical miscellany.

[La_Dolce_Vita]

How absolutely fucking nuts. In the throes of a recession (or some may argue just come out of one) where people are receiving pay freezes, where people have lost their jobs and there are plans for ANOTHER museum/visitor centre. Barmy.

 

But more pertinently Jim Calagon, you can easily justify criticising this and complaining about there being nothing to do on the Island - if you are talking about the people who live here.

 

I have been to the Mannanan House twice - don't want to go there again. Manx Museum is great, but go every few years. Castle Rushen is interesting but doesn't do much for me if I go into it often.

 

It is quite a different thing to look at entertainment and leisure facilities for people who live here - given that it is such a bleak and quiet place in the winter where the only life can probably be found sweating in a gym or getting drunk in a pub, outside of the home.

[VinnieK]

The project also suffers through association with the Douglas Development Partnership, whose record so far consists of:

 

1. Buying a very expensive airfix seagull;

 

2. Setting up railings along the North Quay that are so grim that they would even look crap in Swindon and which have been expertly designed to bathe the area in a miserable greenish hue at night thanks to the yellow street lamps, as well as emphasise the natural drabness of the paved area during day with their dated bushed steel aesthetic;

 

3. The Douglas Trail: a baffling walking route along scenic Bray Hill and Quarterbridge;

 

4. Planned town centre improvements which, if the pictures are anything to go by, consist of making Douglas look like the set of a low budget sci-fi film set in a far flung dystopian future where the town is under the control of a mad, tyrannical town planner who's evil yet modest scheme is to place obstacles in the way of pedestrians and generally make things look a bit shit in a really jarring way.

 

Keen observers will notice that little of this is actually to the purpose of 'developing' Douglas itself, which by and large remains a run down and vaguely depressing mess of dreary shop fronts and dilapidated Victorian guest and town houses. More it's aim seems to be to shovel more and more distraction, novelty tat and soon-to-be dated architectural clichés on what's already there in the belief that this will result in some magical transformation of the town proper.

 

In essence, Douglas is becoming the civic equivalent of a dishevelled house whose owners have loaded the garden with gnomes of varying degrees of hilarity and other assorted lawn furniture bric-a-brac. The kind of place outside of which no-one wants to linger too long and which makes you feel a little sorry for the person living there.

[thesultanofsheight]

The project also suffers through association with the Douglas Development Partnership, whose record so far consists of:

In essence, Douglas is becoming the civic equivalent of a dishevelled house whose owners have loaded the garden with gnomes of varying degrees of hilarity and other assorted lawn furniture bric-a-brac. The kind of place outside of which no-one wants to linger too long and which makes you feel a little sorry for the person living there.

 

What else would you expect from Mr Pie-in-the-sky Croft?

 

Take one look through Strand Street and maybe they could give it a lick of paint to stop it looking like a third world shithole before they start on such grand and useless plans.

[manxy]

Couldn't agree with you more

How absolutely fucking nuts. In the throes of a recession (or some may argue just come out of one) where people are receiving pay freezes, where people have lost their jobs and there are plans for ANOTHER museum/visitor centre. Barmy.

I suppose that it creates work for the building industry, but once finished, it has then to be staffed. Who pays for them or will the tax payer pick up the tab?

[manxy]

Plans for a multi-million pound visitor centre focussing on the maritime history of Douglas are revealed.

 

Source : http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/1/hi/world/...man/8266635.stm

It might be better till we're out of this recession as once again, who'll be staffing it and will it come out of the tax payers pockets?

[%age]

Good post VinnieK

 

Nothing wrong with the idea. That and the camera obscura would provide two decent attractions in the area.

All you'd need then would be something like an amusement arcade and a hotel on the Head and... oh, wait...

 

Talking of the Camera Obscura, what do people think of it? I admire the fact that it was saved, and I think I know why, but there again I'm not altogether sure.

 

Back on topic

 

The existing main tower of this new proposal, houses some fantastic very old and certainly up until recently, fully working machinery that was used to open the bridge before the new gadget was installed. A bloke who used to work on it and now retired, offered to keep it all in good working order for free. The powers that be weren't interested. It seems then that the tower was earmarked for another airy-fairy Douglas project.

 

On a more positive note, I suppose the proposal might be quite interesting, and that side of the Quay does need a tidy up a bit and some investment.

[Vulgarian]

What an utterly pointless idea. What does Douglas have to commend itself to warrant its own visitors centre? Certainly it has some interesting history, but the most of it comes from the Victorian tourist heyday when Douglas would receive over a million visitors a year. I can imagine now the multimedia walkthrough 'experience' with animatronic puppets telling visitors that there used to be plenty of things to do, but no longer, although they can now go forth and see the tired remnants of those days when people actually used to come here.

 

Besides, there is already a perfectly good exhibit at the Manx museum which covers that period.

 

And yes, the popular 'Doo Glas' etymology of Douglas is now widely rejected.

[Moghrey Mie]

We need ongoing maintenance and a few notice boards not another interpretation centre.

 

I agree, it all seems a bit Field of Dreams. There's already the Manx Museum and the House of Mannanan catering for the Island's history, alongside smaller venues and large historical sites such as Castle Rushen and Peel Castle. If these aren't drawing in those elusive visitors, I don't see why anyone would think that a 'visitor centre' (a ridiculous name for what is essentially another museum) will make that much of a difference. It's not like there are thousands of people teetering on the verge of booking tickets and who would surely succumb to the Island's charms if only there were another venue.

 

Really the Dhoo Glass experience is development for the sake of it: the kind of scheme that appeals primarily to those who are easily impressed by large budgets and novelty and long to be associated with a substantial project regardless of whether it's actually a good idea or not, or if there are more pressing concerns than dangling another multimillion carrot in the air and hoping to god that enough tourists will think it appealing to make the whole thing worth while.

 

 

Maybe somebody has sniffed out 'regeneration money'

[La_Dolce_Vita]

...is to place obstacles in the way of pedestrians and generally make things look a bit shit in a really jarring way....

 

In essence, Douglas is becoming the civic equivalent of a dishevelled house whose owners have loaded the garden with gnomes of varying degrees of hilarity and other assorted lawn furniture bric-a-brac. The kind of place outside of which no-one wants to linger too long and which makes you feel a little sorry for the person living there.

Wow!

[La_Dolce_Vita]

Erm...would Queens Pier (combined with BlueMondays plans for Feltland) be a better thing to spend the money on?

[La_Dolce_Vita]

And yes, the popular 'Doo Glas' etymology of Douglas is now widely rejected.

I never understood this. I have read quite different things. I have read Doolish mean Black stream. And Douglas means Dhoo+Glass. However, that doesn't make sense. Is it simply an anglicised version Dhoolish, therefore meaning Black stream?

[VinnieK]

Erm...would Queens Pier (combined with BlueMondays plans for Feltland) be a better thing to spend the money on?

 

Feltland, every single time. In fact, the money would be better spent buying felt suits for every inhabitant of Douglas and employing armed men whose job is to cajole and bully everyone into dancing around singing about the wonders of felt for the amusement of watching tourists.

 

It's a sad fact that such a mental scheme like The Felt Gulag can actually be marketed in corpy friendly language:

 

1. Directly offers increased diversification of employment market, especially in the skilled and professional sectors (i.e. trained guards, Felt commissars)

 

2. Robustly incentivizes increased community spirit through organized communal activities, including those catered specifically to local children and those of advanced age;

 

3. Provides a framework for secondary and tertiary phase subsidiary and auxilliary industries and business (i.e. the sale of Felt Gulag merchandise, distribution of said merchandise, corpse disposal/felt retrieval).

 

4. Acts as a stimulus for local felt manufacturing industry with potential for increased revenue from sale of excess felt to the export market.

 

5. Adds to the Island's culture and heritage, celebrating old traditions via the medium of felt whilst introducing new ones (Felt day parade, etc) and reinterpretisualizes traditional cultural themes in a modern, urban, felt based form specifically designed to appeal to the 21st century's felt hungry consumer. Strengthens existing branding efforts and adds exciting new marketing avenues (i.e. "The Isle of Man: a Feltic Wonderland").

 

6. Backing a whacky scheme is easier than faffing about with substantial long term urban regeneration plans and taking into account intangibles like quality of life, both of which are boring, might not offer fancy pictures of things to come, and often involve reading difficult words.