Parents And Toddlers To Hold Hands Around Hammersmith Town Hall For Children’s Centre Shut Down Protest

At 4.00pm on Wednesday 30th March there will be a Buggy Push around Hammersmith Town Hall. Parents, their young children, carers and their friends hope to demonstrate that our Conservative run Council does not have public backing to close down ten local children’s centres and end the world renowned Sure Start programme in all but name. Feel free to go along and offer your support.

The demonstration coincides with the last day of H&F Council’s sham consultation. Ruth Walsh, one of the organisers tells me “We want to hold hands around the Town Hall and have a protest that is passionate but peaceful.”

The group have set up Hammersmith & Fulham Parents Unite which represents over 5,000 families that will be affected by the closures. They have their own Facebook page (which you can click on and like) and have managed to get over 1,500 signatures to sign their petition so far.

Both David Cameron (Con) and Nick Clegg (Lib Dem) guaranteed the future of Sure Start prior to the last election. However, within months of forming a government Council’s were responding to the government cuts by shutting down Sure Start programmes up and down the country. Hammersmith and Fulham’s Conservative Administration cut £3.4million from the scheme at the Budget Meeting in February and plan to sack up to fifty teachers and experts trained in the toddlers and babies’ development needs. This has meant that two thirds of all the Borough’s children’s centres will lose 95% of their funding.

You can keep up to date with developments at the Save Wendle Park Childrens Centre web site, you can log onto the Facebook group and sign this online petition for the Wendle Park centre.