THE FRIENDS of St Alfege Park have decided to go into hibernation in the hope of one day being allowed to return.
The decision was taken in a ballot of members at a Special General Meeting earlier this month at St Alfege Church Hall.
The meeting, which had a “thin” attendance, saw the group decide to “go into hibernation for the present and hope that Greenwich Council will eventually relent” and restore them to “full partnership.”
Other options on the ballot paper were to continue to organise events in the park or to permanently disband and dispose of the group’s assets.
The chair, Tim Delap, is believed to have resigned and two custodians will be responsible for the running of the dormant group.
The decision was brought about following the controversy this summer when headstones in St Alfege Park were smashed. Greenwich.co.uk understands that the Greenwich Council plans to constitute a new group early in 2012.
The wording of the decided course of action is indicative of what is/was so wrong with the Friends in the first place.
How exactly do they think “and hope that Greenwich Council will eventually relent and restore us to full partnership” is going to encourage the council to let them continue working in the park in the future?
“Will eventually RELENT”?! Unbelievable. Yet again it shows how the depleted Friends main committee appear to think they are above everything and it is the council that is out of line. Have they forgotten they were the ones that caused all the problems and destruction in the first place?
Frankly, it’s a shame they were not disbanded thereby setting the way for a totally new group to be formed. I know many people were waiting in the wings to start one, but who would go near the existing group after the initial disaster and subsequent mishandling of the situation?
What is staggering is that despite Tim Delap now admitting his part in the saga in the previously leaked email, there is still not a real hint of a public apology for his part in the mess.
Are we supposed to be satisfied with that pitiful, short statement he issued all those weeks ago with no explanation for the reasons this happened?
Despite acknowledging in the said email that he should have obtained permission for removing the stones, he then attempts to justify himself by saying “However, the CPB [Community Pay Back] team initially followed my instructions”. Well, that’s alright then!
Just what planet does this shameless man live on? His own, it seems.
At least with the dormancy of the group and their banishment from the park, Mr Delap is no longer free to do whatever he likes. We can feel highly relieved at this outcome.
Ah, NJ, overdoing the spirit of Christmas I see. Good will to all?
I’m afraid I’m not “in the council loop” so the only info I have comes from this and other Greenwich websites, but I’ve yet to come across any evidence that the friends “casued all the problems”.
At worse they seem to have exercised poor governance over those working on their behalf, as such surely the council are guilty of exactly the same offence in not monitoring the friends group and the payback team more closely.
I’m not sure who all these well meaning invidividuals are that are just waiting to jump in and help out, I’m also not sure what they’re waiting for, maybe they should call a meeting and propose a way forward for the park as it is clear that the council are incapable of keeping the park open most days let alone anything more impressive.
In short talk is cheap, the friends have achieved a lot of good in the past, someone needs to step forward and offer to continue the good work that has already been done. I don’t care what name they use or who they are as long as they’re willing to act in a positive and responsible manner for the benefit of the park and those who use it.
“At worse they seem to have exercised poor governance over those working on their behalf, as such surely the council are guilty of exactly the same offence in not monitoring the friends group and the payback team more closely”
The problem is that we still don’t really know what happened, and, amazingly, we don’t seem to be getting any closer to the truth.
Mr Delap’s “account”, via a leaked e-mail, and the brief comments made so far by the London Probationary Trust appear to be mutually contradictory, but the timing is unclear.
Since Mr Delap has been leaked as having “surmised” that the Payback team broke the stones, we need a clear, detailed statement from the London Probationary Trust as to exactly what the Payback team did, when they did it, and what instructions they were given, by whom. Logs of what work they did must have been kept. The London Probationary Trust is a publically accountable body and must be made to provide this information.
I wrote to Sam Eastop, asking that such a statement be requested and made public as a matter of urgency, but have received no reply.
This situation is not satisfactory, or acceptable – as council tax payers and residents we are entitled to know how this awful mistake came to be made.
I am sincerely sorry for those rank and file members of the Friends who, frankly, know no more about what happened than the rest of us, and who are now excluded from further work in the park.
However, there is no possible doubt as to who is responsible for their situation. If Mr Delap had made a full statement as soon as he returned from holiday, back in September, the Friends would very probably still be welcome in the park. Instead we have had nothing but arrogant intransigence from him, as even his friends acknowledge, with his “account” only becoming public because someone within the Friends group got so sick of his attitude and the damage it was doing that they leaked an email.
‘I’ve yet to come across any evidence that the friends “caused all the problems” ‘
Darren, have you actually read all the articles and comments on this website regarding the destruction of the stones?
Because if you have, I simply cannot understand how you think all the Friends are guilty of was ‘poor governance’.
Tim Delap acted autonomously and illegally by asking the community payback team to move the grave stones.
He did this himself without the council being aware and, it seems, even the Friends main committee had not agreed to this course of action.
There was a park management plan devised and implemented by the council in 2008. This directly mentions the important of the graves, but Chair of the Friends Mr Delap chose to totally ignore it.
Tim Delap apparently put up the greenhouse without permission from the council, allegedly organised events in the park without the correct permissions or insurance and then was responsible for the destruction of the tombstones.
I’m afraid even the spirit of Christmas can’t excuse this man’s ‘do as I like’ behaviour.
I can confirm that I have invited the Chair of the Greenwich Parks Forum to help convene a meeting in January to establish a new Friends Group in St Alfege Park. We have all learned a painful lesson but need to recognise the enormous goodwill that exists in Greenwich for St Alfege Park. A new framework for the governance of the Friends activities have been put in place. I am grateful for all the help and support from those who have been helping the Council to move on from this sad episode.
Mr Fahy –
Please read my comment above.
The Council cannot just “move on from this”, nor can it “learn the painful lesson” until it has been clearly established exactly how this dreadful mistake came to be made.
As I have said, we need a clear, detailed statement from the London Probationary Trust as to exactly what the Payback team did, when they did it, and what instructions they were given, by whom. Logs of what work they did must have been kept. The London Probationary Trust is a publically accountable body and must be made to provide this information.
After all these months, we still do not really know what happened and when, so I am now publicly asking you to get this information from the relevant person(s) and publish it as soon as possible. I am not satisfied with the non-response, non-concern that I have had to date from the Council.
Thank you very much NJ you’ve provided an auful lot of information there thats not previously appeared here.
I think it may be helpful if we were all a bit honest about who we are and what are particular “axes to grind” are. I’m not involved with the council, the friends or any other local group, that’s probably why I’m not aware of the park management plan of 2008. Who exactly are you NJ and how do you get to be so well informed about council affairs? I’m also a bit concerned about the verocity of your attacks on Mr Delap. I’ve never met the guy, have you?
So, the only previous comments from Mr. Delap to have been leaked here were the movement of the stones (notably not involving any damage and clearly not the first time they’ve been moved). The concerns raised here have been about the destruction of the stones and frankly we still have no EVIDENCE to suggest who is responsible for that.
Given the list of offences against the park that you attribute to Mr Delap, encompassing a considerable time period and some public events where council officials were present I’m bewildered that you don’t believe the council have been guilty of poor governance.
As I said before I look forward to January and the meeting that Mr Fahy plans to look towards the future. I assume that this meeting will be widly publicised and open to Friends and friends alike.
Darren
Darren, I can only assume from what you have said in your post about “being honest about who we are” that you think I am somehow connected to a particular group or had some sort of vendetta against Tim Delap or the Friends prior to the destruction of the stones. I can assure you that neither of these is the case.
Like you, I am not involved with the council, the friends or any other local group and have never met Mr Delap. I just happen to be someone who has been coming to Greenwich all my life, now works in the town centre and often walks through St Alfege Park or spends time there in the better weather. There is no ulterior motive for my vitriol towards Mr Delap other than his actions and behaviour in this episode.
As to how I am aware of the information in my posts, well it is hardly rocket science. I don’t have some secret phone line to ‘insiders’ in the various camps. The reality is that Greenwich Town Centre is a very small place and from connections, friends and being in the park you get to hear all of the happenings. Regarding the 2008 park plan, I found out about this from doing a search on Greenwich Council’s website. So nothing out of the ordinary at all.
The information I have given here, with one exception, has appeared previously in posts on this website. This is nothing new, so if you have not read all the posts then check out the tag http://www.greenwich.co.uk/tag/st-alfege-park-headstones-controversy/ which will give you a complete list of the articles and comments on greenwich.co.uk. The only new piece of information here is the fact the Friends were allegedly holding events without the correct authority. This has only just emerged.
So the only axe I have to grind is that Tim Delap’s illegal instructions led to the mindless destruction of historic memorials in a public park in a World Heritage Site, then he failed to publically confirm how or adequately apologise for what happened. This is why I think Mr Delap is a disgrace.
I don’t know why you say “frankly we still have no EVIDENCE to suggest who is responsible”. Mr Delap has admitted he requested the removal of stones which resulted in them being smashed to smithereens. True, he did not destroy them himself, but directing the Community Payback team to even move them was illegal and look what happened. Mr Delap is responsible. I don’t see how this can be argued.
It has been pointed out by many that if the destruction had been caused by drunks or youths then people would have been outraged and demanded strong action. Except this wasn’t done by drunks or youths, it was amazingly caused by the Chair of the Friends. In my view Greenwich Council should be encouraging a police prosecution, as they would be if it had been carried out by the aforesaid groups.
Regarding your claim that the council were guilty of poor governance, have you ever heard of the chair of a group of Friends being so reckless and doing as he pleased in the way Tim Delap did? I never have and I have been a member of various friends groups myself over the years. I just don’t think the Council could possibly have foreseen what the Chair of the Friends would take it upon himself to do.
Like you, I look forward to the meeting in January and to see what direction the New Friends of St Alfege Park can take this wonderful, hidden area in Greenwich. Hopefully after the meeting and formalities we will have the opportunity to discuss all the above in person.
Mr Fahy
I agree with Rod. This episode cannot be set to one side without a full investigation and understanding of what happened.
Mr Fahy, when will a full report be published into the destruction of the tombstones at St Alfege Park?
Resptectfully
Six months on, and we still don’t really know how this happened. As has been pointed out many times now, if yobs had done this the Police would have been involved more or less from Day One.
It can only now be assumed that the Council has a pretty clear idea of what happened, and that in some way it doesn’t reflect very well on them. Therefore it has been swept under the carpet, and democracy be damned.
I hope everyone remebers this when election time comes.
OK, people, I know a bit more about this now. The question I want to ask is: why is the Council actively protecting the reputation of the “fully trained” London Probationary Trust supervisor person who was ACTUALLY responsible for supervising the Payback team and, instead, letting the reputation of an innocent man be trashed?
I have asked Tim if he would come on here to list the facts. He hasn’t so far because, it seems, the vicar of St Alfege asked him to keep quiet in case the bad publicity impacted badly on donations to the church’s current fund-raising programme. I pointed out to Tim that it is not the vicar’s reputation that is being trashed, but Tim’s. That is too much to ask of Tim.
Has Vicky Mann, Community Payback Co-ordinator Greenwich Council, been asked for an explanation yet?
Cllr Fahy, are you protecting Vicky Mann and if so why?
“the vicar of St Alfege asked him to keep quiet in case the bad publicity impacted badly on donations to the church’s current fund-raising programme.”
I’m speechless.
What could conceivably be worse publicity than the fact that the Vicar is conniving in the cover-up?
“letting the reputation of an innocent man be trashed”
Mr Delap is not an entirely innocent man, as he greatly exceeded his authority in instructing that the headstones be moved, but he is now being used as a scapegoat. Unfortunately, by refusing to put his side of the story on record, which he should have done immediately he returned from holiday, he has created the situation in which he now finds himself.
We need a full statement from the London Probationary Trust without further delay.
Indigo, ever the impartial comments.
Rather than pre empt any report with your own assumptions about vicars, co-ordinators or chairman why not just ask, politely, for a report and see what it reveals?
Have you learned nothing from your NoGoe experiences?
If Mr Fahy happens to read all these comments, please don’t lump me in to the same cart as Indigo.
As the saying goes, “The truth is out there”
The vicar, Chris Moody, has been stitched up in all of this. He was horrified by the destruction of the gravestones, but had a smiling photo photomontaged on to a picture of the devastation by the Evening Standard.
To say you’re not allowed to defend yourself, and hide behind people who point fingers at the vicar, seems merely to underline the mess this has all been.
“The vicar, Chris Moody, has been stitched up in all of this. He was horrified by the destruction of the gravestones, but had a smiling photo photomontaged on to a picture of the devastation by the Evening Standard”
Fair enough, although his statement, that he had “regrets and concerns” about the destruction, wasn’t what I would have said in his place, but there we are….
Is it not true, then, that the Vicar asked Mr Delap not to comment on these events? (Genuine question – all I want is for what has happened to be explained).
The only way forward for all of us is for a full statement to be made, publicly, by the Council, and soon. If Mr Fahy does read these comments, I hope he will respond, as this clearly isn’t going to go away.
I don’t know if the vicar asked Tim not to comment. The previous time around, the story was someone from the council told Mr Delap not to comment.
The vicar asked Tim Delap not to comment, in case his standing up for himself had an adverse effect on the current fund-raising drive.
Speaking for myself, I think that it is not OK that a member of the congregation’s reputation should be deliberately sacrificed to “fund-raising”.
Read my lips: it wasn’t Tim supervising the Payback team. Isn’t anyone interested in finding out who was and getting a statement from him/her?
I have waited, what, four months: just waited and watched while Tim was tried and found guilty by those who had an interest in sticking the blame to someone and getting it over with quickly, while he was prevailed upon to be some sort of “sacrificial lamb” by others who should know better. Who is writing the report – the Council? Hmm.
“Isn’t anyone interested in finding out who was and getting a statement from him/her?”
Yes – I am.
Perhaps you haven’t been following this very closely of late, but I have been requesting a statement from the Council/London Probation Trust for quite some time now – read the last few threads on this matter. On this forum alone I must have requested a full account of what happened four or five times, both from Sam Eastlop and from Cllr Fahy – I have also emailed them.
I have received absolutley no response at all.
“Who is writing the report – the Council? Hmm.”
The point is – is anybody writing a report?
“Rather than pre empt any report …….”
Ditto – is there any report in the pipeline? I rather doubt it -my impression is that the relevant councillors and officials believe that this will simple go away if they hold out long enough.
Let’s prove them wrong.
“The previous time around, the story was someone from the council told Mr Delap not to comment.”
Which has been confirmed by a member of the Friends’ Committee.
Perhaps both accounts are true.
We need a full statement.
So much trash talk here!
Can’t someone official just bloody report what happened?!
Can’t help there, unfortunately, Lara. Unofficially – some people broke a few unmarked gravestones (one of them might have had a bit of writing on it). It was a bit of a cock-up. A few people got well over-upset. The park looks roughly the same. It was a shame. A few people want a ‘full statement’ they can disagree about. I have just annoyed a few people. That’s about it, really.
Should have said, though, that Rod is always worth listening to. I just disagree with him on the importance of this incident…
Wolfe
The days when you could wind me up that easily are long gone.
If drunken yobs had done this, would you be quite so indifferent?
As always happens in these circumstances, it is now the cover-up that has become the issue.
Not that the unauthorised destruction of artifacts that have been on a World Heritage site for over 2 hundred years isn’t important.
If you’re not that bothered about the stones, OK – we can agree to differ on that.
But there are lots of issues surrounding this event – it’s about accountability, for a start. Someone orderd up the sledge hammers, and is now being allowed to avoid resonsibility, and the consequences of their actions.
It’s also about the Council ceding control of the Park to the friends group, who then started to act as if they owned the Park.
It’s about the friends group greatly exceeding their authority, and doing something they had been specifically forbidden to do.
It’s about nobody supervising the Payback team properly.
And now ot looks like there’s a cover up. So even if you don’t think that the stones matter, there are plenty of causes for concern here.
I notice my desk callendar drifting unstoppable towards February and as yet still no sign of COuncillor Fahy walking down the path to invite me to a meeting to form a new group. I trust that is in hand.
SOme movement though, I do hope my taxes weren’t spent in ripping down the greenhouse (now that does scream of baby and bathwater).
What a shame that the council are proving such poor custodians of our park.
Darren
One of the things that the friends’ group did without authority was to erect the greenhouse. Now that they have been banned from working in the Park, they have, presumably, removed their property.
If they still want an allotment they will have to join the waiting list like everyone else.
I have embedded the results of a freedom of information request to the London Probation Trust in this article:
http://www.greenwich.co.uk/news/06485-friends-banned-from-working-in-st-alfege-park/
Good work, Rob. The quote below is effectively a denial that the Payback team destroyed the stones, and can presumably be verified from the work logs that they must have kept –
“Work Carried out :
1. Make raised beds for Community Gardens –
Commenced with Friends of the Church2.
Clear more of the NE gate area
– Commenced
3 Cut Back overgrown shrubbery beds –
Council /Friends of Church
4. Clear old Ivy roots from walls –
Commenced”
With this information (which, it should be noticed, had to be dragged out of the LPT) which in effect states that the Payback team did only legitimate tasks in the Park, just that and no more, often accompanied by members of the Friends’ group, the PLT has made its position clear, at last.
The focus, in my view, now shifts back to Mr Delap.
Suzanne Miller, member of the Friends’ group committee (the only member of the committee who has made a genuine attempt to clarify events) has said –
“On the basis of various snippets, I believe but cannot be sure that the gravestone-smashing happened in the week from 22 August, when Tim Delap left on vacation, to 30 August, when Sarah McIntyre took her picture.”
According to the summary of dates when the Payback teams worked in the park, there is only one day during that period when offenders did any work, August 24th, and on that occasion, as was usually the case, they were accompanied by members of the Friends’ group. I am certain that Ms Miller said what she did in good faith, but either the Friends were present when the stones were smashed up, or else, probably, the Payback team didn’t do it.
There were in fact only two days when the payback team is said to have worked alone, ie without Friends present, and one of those was after Ms McIntyre took her picture.
Rod
I share your ambition to get to the heart of this issue and to hold someone accountable. However, I disagree with your reading of the LPT letter. It appears that there were THREE successive dates on which the Community Payback team worked without a member of the Friends present: 31 August, 7 September and 14 September.
Quoting from the log:
—
31/08/11
Work undertaken by: Community Payback Team 1 Supervisor, 8 Offenders [NB: no mention of beneficiary present]
7/09/11
Work undertaken by: Community Payback Team 1 Supervisor , 8 Offenders, no beneficiary
14/09/11
Work undertaken by: Community Payback Team 1 Supervisor , 8 Offenders, no beneficiary . Visit by Greenwich Council Environmental Standards Officer
—
While it seems clear from the 30 August photo on Sarah McIntyre’s blog that some damage to the gravestones was done while someone from the Friends was present – and Tim Delap seems to acknowledge as much in his (woefully inadequate) public statements – I suspect that significantly more damage was then done on one or more of the three successive visits by the Community Payback team on 31 August, 7 September and/or 14 September.
Again, I suspect that the particularly egregious damage to the stones on the north side of the park, a long way away from the Friends’ greenhouse and veg patch, was done on one of these dates – and most likely the last date, the 14th of September, perhaps even prompting the visit by the Environmental Standards Officer.
Note that there is “no beneficiary” recorded for these three visits, i.e., no one from the Friends was present. Only Tim Delap can clarify whether the CPT were carrying out order that he had given, or else significantly exceeded their orders – whether in terms of the amount of damage caused to gravestones that he had instructed to be ‘removed’, or the number of gravestones actually ‘cleared’.
Franklin –
What you say is all fair enough.
I had taken it for granted that ALL the damage was done on or before 30th August, but you may be right, and perhaps Ms McIntyre’s photo only records the first stage of the destruction. I was also relying on Ms Miller’s statement, which I am sure was made in good faith.
The point is that we are just speculating, in the absence of all the facts. This just isn’t good enough – if the Council won’t demand answers of the relevant people, surely there needs to be a Police investigation without further delay.
By any reckoning, this must be an act of criminal damage.
This saga has become an absolute disgrace, and let’s be clear – Mr Delap’s refusal to clarify matters, and the Council’s determination to sweep this under the carpet, are what are to blame here.
spam comment removed
seo –
“you were able to make me a believer ”
I’m not sure whether your remarks are supposed to be directed at Franklin or myself, but neither of us is trying to make you believe anything apart from –
a) 200 year old artifacts have been destroyed illegaly
b) there is an absolute refusal by all concerned to explain this event and take responsibilty for it.
You talk about assumptions being made. Well, this is because, in the absence of a statement of the facts, we are speculating about what happened. What else can we do?
The people who want to make you into a believer are LPT, the Council and Mr Delap. They want you to believe that none of them is responsible.
The rest of us are simply asking for the truth, months after this wretched incident ocurred.
May I suggest you contact your local Safer Neighbourhoods Team and see if you can illicit a response from them regarding this matter. I have had no luck but would suggest a weight of numbers may have some bearing on the matter.
Link: http://content.met.police.uk/Team/Greenwich/GreenwichWest
If the council won’t investigate then surely the police can be compelled to?
And I meant elicit a response and not gather one by illegal means. Ooops.
Hi Rod –
Don’t worry, “seo” is not a real person. This is a bot statement with a link to gambling websites. I googled a line in the comment and came up with 335,000 hits, all with links to ‘Internet Roulette’ and ‘Gambling Tips’ and the like. Rob might want to consider one of those ‘real human verification’ thingies for comments.
Yes, sorry, that one slipped through the spam filter. Meant to delete and then felt quite bad when I saw that Rod had replied to it!
How wierd! I mean it kind of made sense………
About the greenhouse removal:
I happened to be passing as Council employees were removing the frame. They said that they were taking it to the “Council store” (I think that was the phrase) and didn’t know if there were plans to re-use it. Probably not, as they weren’t taking particular care. As it was put up with written permission from Parks and Open Spaces (which I haven’t seen but don’t doubt) but without planning permission, the base will also have to go. A waste of charity money. If Parks and Open Spaces said ok, in writing, it seems to me that Council governance was faulty. Incidentally, I can’t imagine that any of the Friends wanted the community gardens for ourselves — it was intended not as allotments at all, but as a chance for lots of local people, mainly children, to get stuck in, grow a few plants, and increase their sense of connection with each other and the park. I had, frankly, worried that the greenhouse would be vandalized; the fact that it wasn’t says worlds.
About the Community Payback Team’s work:
Thanks for getting that information, Rob. There’s something that seems not quite right there: they show two dates when the Friends were allegedly present (27/7 [not 27/6 — obviously a typo] and 3/8). But Tim Delap was away then and as far as I know he was usually the only Friend there when they were working. I can’t help wondering if those two entries are inaccurate in stating that the Friends (unnamed) were present.
Franklin’s speculation that some of the damage may have been done in the two weeks after Sarah Macintyre’s picture was taken, and when the Friends were said not to be there, is most interesting, because it has always seemed to me that the stones in her picture make a flatter pile than that in the newspaper two weeks later. I had wondered if for the sake of impact the press photographer had taken the photo from a lower angle or had piled up the stones, but maybe there’s another explanation.
PS: By the way, contrary to the Community Payback paperwork, the Friends of St Alfege Church were not involved in any way — it was the Friends of St Alfege *Park*.
Oh dear. I wrote: “There’s something that seems not quite right there: they show two dates when the Friends were allegedly present (27/7 [not 27/6 — obviously a typo] and 3/8). But Tim Delap was away then and as far as I know he was usually the only Friend there when they were working.”
So sorry for the confusion: the relevant dates are late AUGUST and early SEPTEMBER (Tim Delap was away from 22 August to 8 September).
But the rest of my comment still applies. So, to clarify: I believe that the CPT was probably working without the Friends’ presence on 24 August and broke up the stones shown in Sarah Macquire’s photo of 30 August, and that later they broke up more stones, on some or all of 31/8, 7/9, and 14/9.
To be fair to the CPT, a local woman who was not a member of the Friends was (in the spirit of a community garden) gardening throughout the summer, and if she was there on 24 August the CPT may have thought she was a Friend.
And to clarify: the Friends of the Church had nothing to do with any of this, so the CPT paperwork may have been perfunctory. Perfectly understandable, but just as well to be clear.
Under the notes of work carried out, the headings “clear more of the NE gate area” and “clear old ivy roots from walls” could encompass moving and breaking up of the stones in that area.
I know that its now Royal Councillor Fahy and as such maybe he’s reverted to the Julien Calendar but he clearly promises a January meeting here. I know he didn’t give a year but clearly its late February.
If he’s wondering why people are inclined to treat his word with caution I would suggest keeping his word may fix that.
I asked the council last week for confirmation when the meeting would take place. Haven’t heard back yet officially but I’ve been told by someone else that the meeting is now planned for mid-March.
I too have been frustrated by the lack of a date for a meeting to establish a new Friends group. As stated here, we were told by Cllr Fahey on these pages that this would happen at the end of January, but this did not materialise.
Therefore on the 25th January I emailed Cllr Fahey and Sam Eastop of Greenwich Council to see when we could expect a meeting to be called. I did not receive a reply from either party and so on 1st February I sent a further email, this time copying in all the ward councillors.
On this occasion Cllr Fahey replied the same day, informing me that a meeting was going to be set up for the end of February. It was going to be chaired by the Friends of Parks Vice Chair, would be confirmed in the next few days and would be widely publicised.
Well here we are at the end of February and nothing has materialised again. Now it will apparently take place in mid-March. Is anyone hopeful about this actually happening? To be honest, given the way this has been handled by the council I can’t say I feel veryl positive about joining such a group now either.
“I did not receive a reply from either party……….”
I have had the same lack of response to several e-mails which I have sent these gentlemen, asking for a detailed report on the chain of events which led to the destruction of the monuments. It is a scandal that 6 or 7 months after the incident we still don’t really know what happened.
The Council’s apparent desire to cover things up is most likely the reason for this foot-dragging regarding the public meeting. They possibly fear that people might ask awkward questions at such a meeting, and they might well be right.
A meeting to discuss forming a new Friends group for the park will take place on March 13th:
http://www.greenwich.co.uk/news/07353-meeting-to-discuss-new-friends-of-st-alfege-park/