Alert: Stop Islington Council removing Dainton (The Bear)'s memorial plaque from Bear Roundabout

Skizz · 28 Oct 2009, 12:44 PM

Some of you may have heard of or met Dainton “The Bear” Connell, a true Gooner who sadly passed away in a car crash in Moscow two years ago. More than six thousand people including Ian Wright, The Pet Shop Boys, Matt Lucas and thousands of Arsenal supporters attended his funeral.

“Bear Roundabout” next to the Emirates Stadium is home to a memorial plaque for him. After the Blackburn home match this season, more than 300 fans gathered there on the second anniversary of his death to mourn his passing. However, just prior to this Islington Council decided to insensitively serve Bear’s widow with notice of their intention to remove the plaque from the roundabout.

Mrs Connell was told in August that if she removed his picture and the flowers, the plaque would be allowed to stay. Now, they have said it must be removed owing to complaints from local residents – despite there being few houses in the vicinity of the roundabout, and the fact the plaque is only visible if you are standing on the roundabout.

The timing alone of this notice is terrible, coming so close to the anniversary of his passing. They have also reneged on an agreement they had with Bear’s widow, and the fallout from this has spilled into the Islington Gazette.

As a result, I am forwarding this petition to all of you guys. There are nearly 500 signatures on it already, and despite the fact a lot of you are across the pond the Council need to know that removing his plaque is unacceptable. For those of you who didn’t know the Bear personally, he was held in extremely high esteem by many Gooners (those who knew him personally, or knew of him on trips over here will agree with this I’m sure), and this is quite frankly a disgrace.

Thanks for reading. Link below:

http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/thebearsplaque/

phishy · 28 Oct 2009, 03:20 PM

in.

welcome back skizz..

Darth Norteño · 28 Oct 2009, 05:27 PM

Duly noted and signed. Stateside or no, it's about respect.

Who the hell would complain about a plaque? There aren't any houses even close to that roundabout. Tossers.

PogiGooner · 28 Oct 2009, 06:05 PM

Signed.

canadagooner · 28 Oct 2009, 06:18 PM

Done!!

Skizz · 29 Oct 2009, 05:01 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Darth Norteño

Who the hell would complain about a plaque? There aren't any houses even close to that roundabout. Tossers.

That's exactly the point. Methinks its quite coincidental considering this Armoury Square project has just cropped up.

Darth Norteño · 29 Oct 2009, 07:28 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Skizz

That's exactly the point. Methinks its quite coincidental considering this Armoury Square project has just cropped up.

You know, that kinda crossed my mind as well. If the plaque is removed, then maybe we can set up a whip-round to buy one of those stones for the Bear. That way, it can't be removed.