The year 2009 is only a a couple of years away now. How many know, out of interest, why that date is significant and why our Council might spend £1 million as a result?

Is it to celebrate Darwins 200th Birthday and the 150th Anniversary of the publication of his book.

Indeed young Christopher is correct its 'D-day' Darwin Day

What could have been my 200th Birthday will occur on February 12, 2009; it will also be the 150th Anniversary of the publication of my book, On The Origin of Species. So, together everyone can evolve a truly international Celebration to express gratitude for the enormous benefits that scientific knowledge, acquired through human curiosity and ingenuity, which has contributed to the advancement of humanity.

Bless you all !

The Borough Council ought to be spending a damn sight more the £1 million on developing the town as a Darwin destination. Its his birthplace and not enough is made of it. Its an embarrasment!

Yes, "Darwin's town" is a unique selling point with a globally recognised name, "town of flowers" is nice but to be honest a thousand towns around the world could call themselves that.

Shrewsbury doesn't get as many tourists as a town this nice desrves in my opinion, I wouldn't want to see us over-run and exist just for tourism like maybe Bath or some towns elsewhere in Europe i've seen seem to, but we could handle quite a few more while still 'keepin it real'.

Well, they seem to be expecting 50,000 more.....

I always think that the Shrewsbury population diminishes every holiday as a large number of the population disappear off to their second homes in Wales, France and Spain.

I honestly can't see people being that drawn to the place just because someone now dead lived here for a bit.

If we had something really different to offer, like a town with no traffic, just fresher air, scents of flowers, real coffee/outdoor cafes, birdsong, our unique architecture you could enjoy without being run over, street entertainment, interesting shops, art gallery, museums etc etc.

Is that what this large number of the population go elsewhere for?

The number of people disappearing is probably balanced by the number who turn up for a weekend or so for the Flower Show...those of us (like me) who live a bit too close to the Quarry for comfort on said days can testify to the crowds wandering past the window (sigh)...

I occasionally go on holiday (shock horror) even though I think Shrewsbury is great, it's a bit much to expect residents to spend 365 days a year here, everybody needs a change of scenery every now and then no matter how good the place is.

The strong pound makes the UK expensive to visit for foreigners and makes everywhere else (except maybe Norway, Switzerland and Japan) seem cheaper to Brits so UK tourism loses out.

Swings and roundabouts though - see the other thread on our complaints about traffic in Shrewsbury. At least that means travel might be a bit easier this year and that the riverloop will be less congested.