Stanmer harks

The man who rescued Stanmer Mansion from decay and dereliction is expressing concern at plans to share the park with an extreme sports and rock festival. Mike Holland claims he was only told one month ago about the event, which combines snowboarding, skateboarding and other children's games with a festival entertainment. He's worried that weddings booked for the weekend might be rather destroyed by having youths in big shorts sliding all over the place.

Holland should have known there was a chance of festivals in the park - Essential used to be a fixture in Stanmer until foot and mouth forced it to relocate to Hackney, where it died.