Fw: DALE FARM: INTERIM VICTORY

[dicegeorge at hotmail dot com]

                   [george]

~                      [g]                         ~
~        george at dicenews.com      ~
~               07970 378 572            ~
~         www.dicegeorge.com        ~
~                     (c)2008                  ~
~                                                   ~


--------------------------------------------------
From: "Dale Farm" <dale.farm at btinternet.com>
Sent: Thursday, October 30, 2008 7:51 AM
Subject: DALE FARM: INTERIM VICTORY

> Ustiben report
> DALE FARM VICTORY FOR
> THIRD ST.CHRISTOPHER'S
> By Grattan Puxon
> 
> The decision forcefully to demolish the
> Saint Christopher Centre at the beleagured
> Dale Farm Travellers' village in south east
> England has been legally quashed - for
> the time being.
> 
> Apparantly bowing to new financial 
> restraints, Tory leader Malcolm
> Buckley has announced that Basildon
> will not contest the judicial review into 
> his council's vote earlier this month to 
> take direct action against the school
> and community centre.
> 
> However, solicitors acting for the
> community are likely to apply for the
> costs of the judicial review to be met
> by Basildon. This will further dent the
> original four million euro budget set
> up by Buckley to pursue his anti-Gypsy
> policies. More than a million has
> already been spent.
> 
> "This is our third Saint Christopher's,"
> said Richard Sheridan, president of the 
> Gypsy Council, with reference to two earlier 
> schools named after Saint Christopher,
> the patron saint of travellers. "The credit
> crunch may yet save this one."
> 
> ROOTS OF CIVIL RIGHTS
> 
> The early days of the Travellers' civil 
> rights movement, linked intimately to the
> later Northern Ireland civil rights' campaign,
> are currently highlighted in a photographic 
> exhibition in the Irish capital. It shows Saint
> Christopher's 1 and 2, built at squatter 
> encampments near Ballyfermot.
> 
> Artist Sean Lynch illustrates how 
> the construction of Saint Christopher's 2 
> at Cherry Orchard settlement, where 
> Travellers made their initial stand back in the 
> l960s, was connected to the filming in Dublin 
> of John Le Carre's The Spy Who Came In 
> From The Cold.
> 
> A while after the opening of the second
> Saint Christopher's on 4 January 1965,
> just a year since Dublin Corporation had
> burned down Saint Christopher's 1, part
> of the film's replica Berlin Wall was carted
> to Cherry Orchard and incorporated into
> the building.
> 
> Despite its ramshakle appearance,
> the school was an innovation. For the
> first time in Ireland, the Montessori
> teaching system was here adopted to 
> help the most underpriviledged children.
> The stand at Cherry Orchard, led by
> the late Joe Donohue, Larry Ward and 
> Pop's Johnny Connors, resulted in the 
> provision of a municipal caravan site 
> and a longer-term Montessori school
> in the city.
> 
> Today that quest for innovation is 
> being repeated at Dale Farm, where
> Travellers are once more making a 
> crucial stand for their rights. Thanks to
> the initiative of educational pioneer Prof. 
> Stephen Heppell, of Anglia Rankin 
> University, Saint Christopher's 3 plans 
> in the new year to start a programme 
> of computer-based courses, adapted 
> to Gypsy Traveller culture.
> 
> Unfortunately, Malcolm Buckley has
> not yet warmed to the idea that Basildon
> could gain merit by allowing this trail-blazing
> school to flourish within the district. He still
> aims to crush Saint Christopher's, albeit
> the log cabin structure was paid for through
> Essex County Council and belongs to the
> Government.
> 
> On 11 November a Basildon District
> Council committee is formally reconsidering 
> options in relation to enforcement at Dale 
> Farm. But Buckley has already told the local 
> press that following the Court of Appeal hearing 
> on December 5 the council expects to be 
> in a position to clear all unauthorized 
> development, including Saint Christopher's.
> 
> *********************************
> PROTEST RALLY OUTSIDE
> BASILDON CENTRE - STOP
> DESTRUCTION OF SAINT
> CHRISTOPHER'S, SAVE
> DALE FARM
> 
> Basildon Council is holding this
> meeting behind closed doors,
> stopping any representations
> being made to councellors
> 
> 11 November 2008
> 5pm Meeting in Saint
> Christopher's
> Dale Farm, Oak Lane, Crays Hill
> 7 pm Rally at Basildon Centre
> For more details email:
> dale.farm at btinternet.com
> or phone 01206 523528
> 
> **************************************
> 
>