WHEN artist Stuart Semple announced the opening of GIANT in Bournemouth a couple of years ago, I suspect most underestimated what this meant in reality.

The outcome has been an astounding and wonderful stream of exhibitions, the calibre of which one would normally only associate with, and see in international cities, but here they were in the seaside town of Bournemouth, and free to view.

For BCP to have let this opportunity slip by has been at very least careless, and at worse completely stupid.

GIANT has been a beacon of hope in the very centre of a desperate town trying its utmost to reinvent itself, so a slow handclap to those who were in a position to help, yet didn't.

I can’t think of another town in the UK where you can access art of this calibre free, and join the plethora of outreach community art workshops it offered. This place has highlighted what art means to community, what creativity does for wellbeing and highlights that everyone deserves access to it. I am beyond horrified that we are where we are. please, BCP think again, or you will have lost the jewel in the crown.

If the next gallery turns out to be some 'commercially viable selling gallery' pushing out pretty little coastal paintings that match the settee then we can be absolutely certain that the entire point of GIANT has been missed.

Trina Hart

Lymington