Dog Woof Lane: Please Vote Now & Help the RSPCA

[Mr Moobs]

I know it's rather cheeky (nay, saucy) of me to use my first post to ask for help....but read on and it's possible your heart may warm towards me yet. I'm hoping you'll email Samantha.Whitworth@derby.gov.uk and do the local animal population a big favour. Now here's the thing:

The final section of Derby's inner ring-road is nearing completion at last and the council is asking for serious suggestions for a name for it. Numerous naff suggestions have been made, all ending with the dreaded word 'Way' (ouch!) and mostly they're to do with football, trivia etc., a notable example being Lara Croft Way (this is, alas, true)....which horrendously is currently the front-runner, because certain persons with a vested interest in publicising Tomb Raider are encouraging gaming fans worldwide to email Derby City Council in support of the name. (Can you believe that? People in Bulgaria and Ecuador are trying to tell British people what to name their streets.) And the council are lapping it all up.

My own suggestion for the road (which runs past the Derby RSPCA Centre) is Dog Woof Lane....which may seem a bit eccentric and rural, but it'll flag up the existence of the animal rescue centre for decades to come - and at no cost to the RSPCA at all. My intentions are severalfold:

(a) specifically to get away from the painful, dismal, dreary inevitably which has resulted in almost all through-passes and ring-roads in Britain being called Something-or-Other Way;

(b) to acknowledge the long dog-related history of the Abbey Street/Uttoxeter New Road area of Derby (sixty-nine years of dog-woofing from the RSPCA kennels, and before that many, many years of dog-woofing from kennels on Great Northern Road, which was actually called Dog Kennel Lane until 1879 - and which connects up with the new section of ring-road);

(c) to serve as a permanent reminder to townsfolk and visitors alike that Derby has an RSPCA rescue centre where pets are always available for adoption;

(d) to create a highly distinctive and characterful streetname to help compensate Derby for the fact that it has long since lost most of its wonderful old streetnames - either because those streets have been destroyed or because streets with lovely old names had the misfortune to have their names changed, like Blood Alley being changed to Gower Street, Bag Lane being changed to East Street, Nanny Tag’s Lane being absorbed into Full Street - and Gallows Baulk and Love Lane being replaced by Melbourne Street.

It’s time Derby had a streetname to make visitors scratch their heads in wonderment - and if Leicester can have a street called Holy Bones and Nottingham can have a street called Hollow Stone, Derby certainly deserves a Dog Woof Lane.

There’s still plenty of time to vote, whether you’re an animal lover or whether you’re merely fed up with seeing Britain's historic legacy being eroded piecemeal. To vote, email Samantha.Whitworth@derby.gov.uk

And please DO vote. Don't just leave it to someone else to vote - or nobody at all may vote.

Together we can do this thing. And just think, you'll be able to show your grandchildren Dog Woof Lane on the A to Z and say "I helped name that street".

Many thanks for helping. Voting closes on 27 August.

[lonelymom]

Brilliant name for a road. I'd much rather that than Lara Croft Way or, even worse, for it to be named after the local jumped-up councillor! I emailed and voted!

[Fjgrogan]

There is a reason why a street in Leicester is called 'Holy Bones' - it is the site of a Sikh temple of that name. Now surely if Leicester can name its streets to reflect its comparatively recent heritage, surely Derby can also take account of its far more longterm heritage. I understand that there is a healthy rivalry between Leicester and Derby - let's make use of that. Personally though, I think I would prefer Dog Kennel Lane to Dog Woof Lane. And Lara Croft is , after all, just a passing fad.

[lonelymom]

But to me the name Dog Kennel Lane conjurs up images of all those sad dogs stuck in kennels day after day ( ), whereas Dog Woof Lane is a much happier image. Plus, if there are lots of dogs at the RSPCA centre there you can bet the woofing can be heard for miles!

[Chrissie Boy]

As I understood it when I was a student in Leicester, Holy Bones takes its name from the fact that it was cut round behind a Saxon church, disturbing the churchyard graves in the process.

Dog Woof Lane? Nice one. I've just voted, Herr Moobs.

[englishangel]

I have voted and emailed all my chums, and I am now going to check Facebook to see if there is a group.

[lonelymom]

I have voted and emailed all my chums, and I am now going to check Facebook to see if there is a group.

Brilliant idea!

[anniexf]

Hi Mr. Moobs, what a super idea! I've emailed as requested. I was christened in Chaddesden Parish Church, Derby 65 years ago, when I was 10 months old. My mother & I had recently been evacuated from south London at my father's insistence - he'd been home on leave from the Army when the V2(?) rockets were coming over, & was worried about us, especially as I'd just recovered from diptheria. Anyway, that tenuous association with Derby gives me as much right to suggest Dog Woof Lane as any Estonian has to suggest Lara Croft Way!!

[lonelymom]

More of a right, I'd say!

[englishangel]

I have voted and emailed all my chums, and I am now going to check Facebook to see if there is a group.

Brilliant idea!

There isn't, but there should be. BTW, got an 'out of office' autoreply as it's a Saturday. She will wonder what has hit her when she gets in on Monday. Incidentally the developers of the Lara Croft game come from Derby, but Dog Woof Lane is still better.

[jhopgood]

Just got this reply

Thank you for your suggestion; please keep an eye on the local media in September to see which names get shortlisted!

Derby City Council

Sam Whitworth | Project Manager - Derby World Cup 2018 Bid | Regeneration and Community | Roman House, Friargate, Derby DE1 1XB | Telephone 01332 255033 | Mobile 07932 195010 | Minicom 01332 256666 | www.derby.gov.uk
Derby City Council - committed to being an Excellent Council

[anniexf]

Me too, Samantha's been busy this morning!

[lonelymom]

Me too. I hope Mr Moobs keeps us up to date with developments.

[Mr Moobs]

Large thanks to the five OBs who've voted so far. Please keep those votes coming.

anniexf, I've never succeeded in getting inside Chaddesden church (which I understand is/was open on Sunday pms as part of the now-defunct Open Churches Trust doodah), but maybe it'll happen one day.

Now, how to motivate Western Society to vote for Dog Woof Lane? People are just soooo apathetic.

[Mid A 15]

Six Old Blues now.