APPENDIX 26
Memorandum submitted by Dr Peter Brierley
I write in response to the Press Notice indicating
that there is a Committee meeting to conduct an inquiry on Marking
the Millennium in the United Kingdom which was sent to my office
on 18 April 2000 (Christian Research, 4 Footscray Road, Eltham,
London SE9 2TZ).
Since the majority of this particular Committee's
work is focussing on the Dome I am replying in a private capacity.
I had the pleasure of visiting the Dome from
my home in last January, and whilst I found it an enjoyable day,
and reasonable value for money, I have two outstanding impressions
which I wish to pass on to the Committee for their consideration.
Firstly, I happen to live within the immediate
vicinity of the Dome's sphere of influence. Because it is not
possible to get to the Dome by normal private transport I naturally
had to use public transport, which I did. I have no complaints
about the efficiency of the working of that transport, and it
got me to the Dome within about an hour of leaving home and the
return journey took a similar time. However, I am used to using
a car and would have got to the Dome using a car within 20 minutes,
so in effect I had to waste 1 hour 20 minutes in travel which
to my way of thinking was an unnecessary extension of a long day.
It is in fact very difficult for people living in South London
to get to the Dome easily by public transport—I had to catch
a bus to Lewisham, then the Docklands Light Railway to Canary
Wharf and then change onto the tube. The cost of that travel was
much greater than if I had gone by private transport. Whilst I
understand the need to try to ensure that public transport is
used more and private transport used less, to rigorously enforce
that with such an opportunity as the Dome to my way of thinking
is a major mistake and can only inhibit attendance from the very
people who live in the neighbourhood of the Dome. Those coming
a distance and ending up in central London can readily get to
the Dome by connecting to the appropriate tube. It happens to
be much more difficult for those who live locally! Yet there are
two million of us sitting on its doorstep.
My second comment relates to the content of
the exhibits. These were in my opinion reasonably of high value,
certainly well laid out in most cases, and like everybody else
I enjoyed certain items more than others. But except for the McDonalds
exhibit, which I understand varies each day, everything else was
simply a one-off event. I have a daughter and grand-daughter and
would be more than happy for them to go to the Dome but I would
pay for them to go rather than take them myself. I have done it
all once and there is nothing more for me to go and see, and simply
to see the same thing a second time would be boring. The only
exhibit which built in a "come back factor" was actually
McDonalds. I am not a particular fan of McDonalds but the very
fact that it is American and they think in marketing terms perhaps
more strongly than we do, is maybe reflected in the nature of
their exhibit. I would gladly go back to see the latest McDonalds
exhibit again, but not the rest thank you very much. This lack
of "repeatability" is I feel a major disadvantage of
the current contents.
May 2000
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