Charter school East Dulwich opening date

[bodsier]

creditwheredue Wrote:

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> I'm sorry, I have to put the record straight here

> once and for all.

>

> James Barber had nothing to do with establishing

> the East Dulwich Picturehouse. The idea of the

> use of the old St.Anthony's School building as a

> cinema was proposed to father Gerry at St.Thomas

> Moore Church by a local resident ( happy to supply

> name by pm) and after favourable discussions the

> project was handed over to PH director Lyn Goleby.

It's a shame it didn't become a Dulwich Plex....picture yourself has increased its prices so many times and has barely increased the salaries if it's workers.?14,50 per ticket! Quite ridiculous.

[James Barber]

Hi creditwheredue,

I talked to five cinema providers all were very interested in coming to East Dulwich. We had several ideas for local locations that could support a new cinema. We had been talking to the local RC father about possible use of the Thomas Moore Hall for a new nursery. I believe this happened in parallel to the Picturehouse local resident, part of the fathers congregation, talking to the father. I also talked to the father making it clear others were also interested in providing a cinema. I also made it clear ward councillors would be fully supportive of the change of planning use and the planning application for a cinema and we followed through on that promise.

...and what a great addition to the area.

[dc]

Eastdulwich2015 Wrote:

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> Well done James you worked so hard to get this for

> us. Sad that Tessa isn?t here to see it; she did

> so much for North Charter.

Tessa did an enormous amount to secure a home for Charter East Dulwich on the Dulwich Hospital site - including having to unravel an unholy mess created by the former LibDem councillor who now appears to want to take the entire credit for the whole project.

Here?s the relevant thread. Judge for yourselves who put in the hard work to remove the threat of a planned primary school from the site (which would have had a catchment area in Nunhead) and which put the secondary school plans in jeopardy:

http://www.eastdulwichforum.co.uk/forum/read.php?5,1407450,page=1

At Tessa?s memorial service two of the main community campaigners for the new secondary school appeared in a film played prior to the service, praising Tessa?s contribution to the project. Neither they nor she are mentioned in the self-congratulatory piece of tendentious brass-neckery above (5th post of this current thread).

I apologise if this comes across as angry but, if it does, it has the benefit of accurately reflecting how I feel. I thought a lot about responding but, for once, I thought it would be wrong to allow such bunkum from the previously referenced former councillor to go unchallenged. The thread linked to above is long but it is educational. For obvious reasons, none of the links to attachments on Tessa?s contributions remain active.

[James Barber]

Hi dc,

Clearly many people had a hand in making this new school happen and will continue to do so until it is finally finished.

The original campaign for this was started by local Lib Dems.

The Labour council reversing its position against any new secondary school in Dulwich was instigated by local Lib Dems with 550 supporting families.

The Dulwich Hospital land was acquired as a direct result of the first ever successful Right to Challenge public land use submitted by me - and Dulwich Hospital had been over 20 years NHS procrastination over the site and was still procrastinating until this Right to Contest was successfully forced on them by the Cabinet Office.

Clearly local Lib Dems were absolutely critical for this new school happening.

I'm bemused why East Dulwich Lib Dems stating facts is so painful for some to accept.

[ianr]

Usarato is imo most probably another of the increasing number of usernames here whose end purpose is to increase the exposure and apparent bona fide reputation, as rated by search-engines, of some commercial websites. The next stage would be more posts also seeking to appear part of an ongoing conversation, but containing a web link.

I'd advise against responding to this and similar posts at all unless evidence to the contrary emerges.

[Renata Hamvas]

I think, Cllr Catherine Rose and all the other active group of parents involved in making the school happen deserves credit here (I met with her when she represented the parents group over the setting up of a new school well before she was a Councillor). Also James wasn't the only Councillor involved (some of us were quietly and less publicly involved behind the scenes, talking to Council Officers and possible providers over the setting up of a new secondary school!).

Renata