Save the Whale
Ten years ago we installed along the coastal cliff path at Brighstone a superb limestone bench, carved by local artist Danny Stimpson to be a white whale. It was a part of the great Chines project that spawned three such carved Portland stone benches (you may have come across them all on your travels) along with specially designed cycle-racks for each of the chine car parks; there was a schools pack and a colour brochure and all manner of environmental improvements too – it was a big piece of work. Well, the Island has shrunk in those ten years and the whale is now perilously close to the edge, perched on a little spur of land on either side of which the land has been completely eaten away. If it does go over the edge it will disappear irretrievably into the thick porridge of the slumping cliff from where it will slowly, slowly make its way down to the beach, emerging there in perhaps another 10 years. In a way this would be rather good – the whale making its way back to the ocean – but we’d still rather it stayed up on the cliff if at all possible thank you very much!
So, we’re working with others to see what we can do and to do it as soon as we can!
In the picture you can see the whale in by the fence and a little further east a great scar as the land has slipped away taking with it the coastal path.
