Hustings at the Markfield

Yesterday evening I had the privilege of attending a hustings event which was hosted by an organisation that deserves to be better known. The other politicians present were parliamentary candidates Anne Gray (Green Party) and Jenny Sutton (Trade Union and Socialist Alliance) together with Councillor Dhiran Basu (Labour).

The Markfield, which is located in Markfield Park at the eastern end of Seven Sisters Ward, is a community centre “which has been providing support services which give disabled people and their families access to everyday and fulfilling life experiences.” Their website is at http://www.markfieldproject.co.uk/default2.asp?active_page_id=79

In keeping with that mission, the organisers of the centre decided to do something about the fact that of the large numbers of people with learning disabilities, only one in five voted at the last general election. Hence the hustings, which took place as part of a regular Friday evening social event for the adult users of the centre.

The people who attended asked several perceptive questions about gang violence, about the training of disabled people for jobs in catering and about what our respective parties intended to do with regard to education and training generally. In the great tradition of hustings, it overran.

On the subject of children’s play (and the centre caters for people of all ages) one of the organisers mentioned that playgrounds tend to be regarded as complying with requirements for catering for disability if they have merely one piece of suitable apparatus. By contrast, the play areas of the Markfield are designed to provide a large range of activities which most children can undertake. The primary ethos of the centre is to encourage large numbers of people to use the facilities so as to reduce as far as possible the isolation of disabled people from the wider community.

For the six months ended in March of this year, the centre had a grant which enabled it to give open access one day a week. Unfortunately, this grant was not renewed for the current financial year. Contact between the disabled users and the wider community is therefore limited to specific sessions for the time being.

In a few days, a new administration will be in control of the Council. I hope that the wonderful work of this centre will be encouraged and helped, whichever party makes up that new administration. I think that all of us who attended the hustings would be very pleased to do this again and that we would encourage all parliamentary candidates to take part in such events in the future.

David Schmitz
Liberal Democrat Parliamentary Candidate for Tottenham
and candidate for Haringey Council from Harringay Ward