Tuesday, June 05, 2007

10 Things You Didn't Know About Heras Fencing

Isle of Thanet Gazunder Cut-Out-And-Keep Guide

Everyone's talking about Heras fencing! And with the East Cliff display now in its third season, and growing bigger every year, we've spent half an hour trawling the Heras website to bring you this fence-tastic guide to Heras - the company that invented the concept of temporary fencing and remains the European market leader!

1. If all the Heras fencing in the UK was joined up, it would stretch as far as Copenhagen.
2. Blacksmith Archibald Heras invented the system while attempting to improve the design of mobile bedsteads for Wellington's army.
3. David Bowie's 70s hit We Could Be Heroes was written as an advertising jingle for the firm and was originally called We Could Use Heras.
4. Heras fencing is used at London Zoo to prevent gorillas from accidentally mating.
5. The town of Arras in northern France took its name from the amount of temporary fencing used during its construction.
6. On the Pacific island of Tonga, Heras fencing is seen as a status symbol, with the king possessing more than 23 miles of it.
7. Irish composer Padraig O Floinn's Dublin Symphony uses two lengths of Heras fencing instead of a woodwind section.
8. Many superstitions have grown up around the fencing, and some people in Scotland believe that it can cure warts.
9. Much of the Space Shuttle was constructed out of Heras fencing.
10. Future Prime Minister Gordon Brown is a fan, and refuses to travel without taking at least one section with him.

10 comments:

Nethercourt said...

You preach to the converted ER!
I for one, am a great devotee of the artistic virtues of Heras and make a point of examining our iconic collection every day. A good sunset seen through those delicate traceries is a joy to behold!
Who needs a Turnip Centre when Thanet can boast such a tourist attraction!

Richard Eastcliff said...

Indeed Young Nethers. I myself have taken to sunbathing in a deckchair behind the fencing to give me that 'caught behind temporary fencing during a nuclear blast' look which is oh so fashionable on the Kings Road these days doncha know.

Anonymous said...

An anagram of HERAS is share!

Anonymous said...

Or shear. As in let's take some shears to bloomin' stuff.

Anonymous said...

Or hears. As in no-one at the council hears our complaints about it.

Justin Brown said...

There's also 'eRash' which I've heard can be caused by receiving a virus in your eMail.

Anonymous said...

Then there's H Arse (bad case of the farmers).

Richard Eastcliff said...

Yes, well, I suppose it is a pain in the Aris.

Anonymous said...

I was up on the Eastcliff on Sunday and was very proud to admit to a visitor from Wales that I was one of the people who sometimes put those yellow notices up on the Heras fence on Friday! And no I wasn't wearing a cardboard Big Ben outfit. I didn't attend the mayor-making shindig either - shame!

Justin Brown said...

Maybe you should step it up and, perhaps, put them up on Tuesdays, too? That'd show 'em!
I wouldn't feel too bad about not attending the Mayor-making shindig, either, as he din't make it more than two feet from his limo, himself. One ear witness (no, not a Van-Gogh religious convert) reports him as muttering under his breath "F*ck this nonsense!" before fleeing to Albion House for a bucket of port, cheese and crackers.