On Wednesday 11th September the Save Markhouse Centre campaign held a public meeting at the Centre to hear the views of the service users, their parents and carers, and the staff of the Centre, i.e. the people most involved and affected by the looming closure of the Centre, both on their own behalf and as representatives of those who are not able to speak for themselves. Forest Radio made a sound recording the whole of of the event and a version slightly abridged for length can be heard at:
Since then there has been a public meeting of the Council's Health and Adults Scrutiny Committee to discuss the proposed closure on Wednesday 2nd October in the Council Chamber of the own Hall, which Forest Radio also recorded but the acoustics in that hall are so atrocious that the recording is not usable.
There was also a public meeting organised by the Waltham Forest Chamber of Commerce at the William Morris Hall on Greenleaf Road on Thursday 17th October which discussed the Markhouse closure proposals as well as the borough's provision for children with special educational needs. This was recorded successfully and the relevant parts of the two-hour meeting, not duplicating too much of the previous discussions, can be heard below.
We would recommend that you attend this meeting with your family and friends and the service users themselves if that is practical. Let the people with the power to reverse this cynical and unnecessary attack on the lives of some of the most vulnerable members of our society and those who devote their lives to caring for them meet their proposed victims face to face and try to justify what they are proposing to do to their lives. Let us try also to attract the local and national press and any other media representatives to attend and explain the issues to the wider public. Please sign the petition to stop the council from taking this action.
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