Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!
West Green Residents' Association
At an Extraordinary General Meeting held in Christchurch Vestry this evening (Thursday) it was decided that West Green Residents' Association (WGRA) be wound up. For the past few years attempts have been made to expand the membership and find a new Secretary and Chair but these have proven unsuccessful. The members present also decided that any residual funds from the Association be donated to the fund set up by the past Mayor, Councillor Sheila Peacock which goes to support Haringey's disabled and vulnerable children.
Discussion, which at times became somewhat heated, ranged around various options available to prolong the life of the Association. However, it was accepted that, without people willing to immediately take up the roles of Chair, Secretary and Treasurer, the Association was nonviable. Papers relating to the 34 year history of WGRA will be lodged with Bruce Castle Museum.
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Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Justin Hinchcliffe on
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Go to Hell.
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Permalink Reply by pamish on
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Goodness Justin, you're still here, and witty as ever. Wasn't expecting to hear from you until just before the next election.
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Why? I am a local resident- born and raised here. Suspect I'll be here long after many have, deposit allowing, departing for Hoxton Wharf.
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Permalink Reply by DavidAllen on
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If you are going to pontificate about the bigotry and narrowmindedness of others, it would be better not to parade your own bigotry and narrowmindedness while doing so. What a litany of cliches: you present the usual attack on the Daily Mail for being Tory, (which it certainly is not, rightwing certainly, it attacks the Conservative Party and the current government from the right as you would know if you ever read it). You also claim without foundation that 'Tories hate public services'; then we get that tired old phrase from the 80's 'selling off the family silver', which is hard to relate to any current government policy; then you go on about 'rich friends', when any fule kno that the Labour leadership have just as many rich friends as the Tories and that it was Blair, Brown and Mandelson who made the deiification of plutocrats an instrument of public pplicy in a way it had never been before and certainly hasn't been since--remember Mr Rothschild's temper tantrum when George Osborne refused bow and scrape before him like Peter Mandelson? And liberating failing schools from years of council neglect does not constitute 'giving them away to rich friends'--you seem to have a very simplistic view of politics.
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The Tories don't so much hate public services as want to make a profit from them. Hence the selling off of Railways, Gas, Electricity, Water, Royal Mail, services of the NHS and the current attempt to privatise the probation service and child support services. Is that foundation enough for you? Let's not forget the handing over lock stock and barrel of our school to millionaires like Harris against the wishes of parents, teachers, and governors. This has nothing to do with improving schools but is an attempt to take schools out of public accountability. How dare you accuse me of having a simplistic view. Perhaps you could explain the benefits to the pupils of the former Downhills Primary who most definitely DID have their school given to a rich friend by Mr Gove, the most hide bound and ignorant education secretary I have ever seen.
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You are, quite possibly, one of the most boring 'contributors' I have ever come across? Now, get back to seeing the Socialist Worker.
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I'm glad you seem to be having second thoughts about bandying around words like 'hate'--one of the worst failings of the Left is to constantly demonise their opponents as evil rather than accepting that well-meaning people are allowed to come to different conclusions about the sort of society we should live in. You seem to be starting from an anti-capitalist, ideological perspective. I prefer to look at outcomes: all the privatised services you mention offer a much better service post-privatisation than pre-. Follow your prescription, and it would be back to the 70s and waiting lists for a phone line. Re. the NHS: it stands for 'NATIONAL Health Service, not NationalISED Health Service'--what matters is what offers the best outcomes for patients rather than what suits provider interests. The NHS is not a job creation scheme for people too po-faced to work in a profit-making organisation. Your remarks about Harris are offensive: this is a very successful capitalist from a working class background who, having made his fortune, is now devoting years of his life and a part of his fortune to improving the education of working class kids. He does not own or profit from the Harris academies in any way. All he gets is grief and abuse from the Left. And the abuse doled out to Gove is now beyond absurd. I appreciate that the NUT and their Left friends regard Gove as a class traitor for daring to be Tory despite having a working class Glaswegian background, but to accuse him of being 'hide bound' (sic) is absurd: he is unpopular precisely because he refuses to be hidebound and insists on challenging orthodoxy and driving change. And the 'public accountability' of local authority maintained schools is a risible myth. With 4-yearly elections, barely 25 per cent voter turnout, and only a small fraction of those voters having a child enrolled in a council school on any given election day, there is NO accountability via the ballot box. Parents just walk with their feet--remind me again how many Haringey parents send their kids out of borough to get an education. And you wonder why people think you take a simplistic view of politics!
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Permalink Reply by John D on
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" After speaking to the first two rude, untrained, poor English persons..... "
Are you a closet Daily Mail reader Philip ?
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There is a general problem with people being much less clubbable and engaged than they used to be a few decades ago. Millions of ordinary people used to engage engage with their community all year-round often in multiple ways such as helping out at the local church/Sunday School , joining/doing legwork for a political party, joining a Residents association or Women's Guild and taking their turn on the committee, volunteering to help out the local Guides/Scouts/Boys Brigade etc. Now most people feel they like they are doing their virtuous bit simply by having a couple of £3 per month direct debits to charities and participating in a one-off event for Red Nose Day once a year. That leaves the burden of maintaining whole network of clubs/groups that comprise civil society resting on ever fewer shoulders, with the same (ageing) handful of individuals wearing many different hats.
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Permalink Reply by Paul Bumstead on
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This hits the problem on its nose! There is a lack of 'connection' in many communities and, over the 5 years that I have been Chair of WGRA this has become more evident. Yes - there are plenty of people who get involved on a single issue basis but they are not willing to do so when the organisation takes a more general viewpoint.
Relating to earlier comments in this thread - WGRA was totally non-political and had supporters of all three major parties as members. In the same way, they probably read a variety of papers, not just the Guardian and Daily Mail.
Its now up to the 'new' residents to get together to form their own Association and I wish them luck. I'm a sad as most members of WGRA to see it go but it couldn't survive the way things were.
Finally a correction - the WGRA history only goes back 32 years not 34 as I wrote.
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You are to be congratulated, Paul, for trying to keep it going (alongside Stephen Whittle). It was something I always put off - joining, that is - for which, apologies. I am already an active member of several local groups in addition to being a school governor at Tottenham's largest primary school and chairing the local CP. Out of curiousity, did you get any/much support from our local councillors? I would be willing to help set up a new RA - if others cld join in? Best, Justin
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Would happily step up and be active in a new RA.
Tried to get in touch and join the WGRA when I first moved here, but never got a response.
Some people have expressed a desire to get organised around the rubbish issues in the area. Seems like a perfectly good way to get something rebooted.
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