Harringay online

Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!

At the Area Assembly held at South Harringay Juniors last night, one of the more interesting items on the agenda was a short talk from Simon McKeown about the 2011 census (not a PowerPoint slide in sight, hurrah!)

As Michelle commented here, due to a below national average return, Haringey's population is significantly underestimated and, as a result, funding for Haringey for key sevices is below what it should be to cope with demand.

Simon was at the meeting, first of all, to make a plea that we ensure that everyone in the community fills in the form. Unlike the electoral register, the data collected is closed for 100 years and no one (and he emphasised this a number of times) from police to immigration to debt collection agencies to telemarketers can get hold of it. Many people don't complete the form for fear that their information will be released to government departments or other unsavoury characters.

Another misconception is that you don't need to fill it in if you are in temporary accomodation in Haringey. The census is a snapshot so how long you plan to stay is irrelevant.

Simon mentioned that, for the first time, the census form may be filled in online as well as via the more traditional routes.

He also told us that the census is looking to recruit local people to work within their own communities on the Census. People with more than one language are particularly welcome for Haringey but the point he wanted to make is that people are more likely to respond favourably to a familiar face knocking on their door than a stranger. Details of how to get a job with the 2011 census can be found at censusjobs.co.uk

Although Simon steered clear of any political statement, he did make the point that with the tsunami of cuts coming our way, getting a high turnout on the census (National Average last time was 93%, Haringey 87%) will at least ensure that Haringey gets the funding that it needs to cover its population. He also commented that there would be a lot more publicity and energy put into this one than the last one, so expect to see more about this topic in the future.

Tags for Forum Posts: census

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Thanks for this, I've applied for updates re local census jobs. What a useful forum this is!
Everyone should be assured that they need not fill in the final column of their census form: 'Imbecile or Idiot or Lunatic' unless they so choose. None of my family chose to do so, despite ample evidence, in the Irish Censuses of 1901 or 1911*.

I note with some pride, though, that my Dad, Uncle and six Aunties were all noted Scholars in 1901, but by 1911 the Old Man had graduated to Farm Labourer, one Auntie had been promoted to Domestic Servant , while the six older siblings had already been processed and deloused through various Ellis Island Censuses of the Noughties - cleverly missing out the Titanic (1912) and Lusitania's steerage class (1915), both out of the Cobh of Cork/"Queenstown". They weren't as stupid as Leonardo DiCaprio, you know.

Meanwhile their Auntie Maggie was upwardly mobile, advancing steadily from Spinster in the late 19th Century to Not Married in 1901 to Single in 1911. I await with bated breath the publication of the 1926 Census (Remember we were busy Brit-bashing in 1921, then we had to get the requisite Civil War out of the way) when Great-Aunt Maggie may well have been in a Civil Union with her girlfriend or leading the General Strike in the Wee Northern Statelet.

* Despite Simon McKeown's guaranteed assurances, the Irish Government released the 1911 Census prematurely in 2009 - maybe to remind their restless populace that their (great)grandparents didn't ever have much of a Celtic Tiger back then, with just ten years to go till civil war and twenty till the great Slump.

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