Sir, – Credit to the Sandymount couple who succeeded in getting the builders to reinstate the public bench on the footpath outside the AIB Bank Centre in Ballsbridge in Dublin, now being demolished.
Very close to that bench, at the junction of Serpentine Avenue and Merrion Road, exists another piece of public street furniture. It is a concrete trough for horses.
Few if any horses slake their thirst there now. Its contents are muddy water and litter. It is frequently knocked sideways off its plinth,
Nevertheless, it is a relic of old decency, a reminder of the times when Ballsbridge echoed to much clip-clopping between Gough’s Bloodstock Salesgrounds and the RDS Spring and Horse Shows.
Wouldn’t it be a nice gesture if both the RDS and Facebook, whose current demolition works are putting the horse trough in such peril, could cooperate to refurbish and enhance this historic piece of street furniture?
It would be a shame if Ballsbridge’s only remaining horse trough was knocked over once too often, damaged irreparably, and then thrown into the skip of memories. – Yours, etc,
RODNEY DEVITT,
Sandymount,
Dublin 4.