« Campaign for the Book letter to Swindon councillor
Green Party blasts Swindon council leadership »
22 05 2009

Police anxious about Old Town protest- er, why?

Posted by: Alan Gibbons in Uncategorized

Police warn Shirley about royal protest

7:30am Friday 22nd May 2009

Swindon Advertiser

comment Comments (5)   Have your say »

POLICE have questioned a campaigner about a so-called protest planned for Princess Anne’s visit to the new Central Library in Swindon today.

Shirley Burnham, 61, sees the Princess Royal’s visit as an opportunity to highlight the plight of the Old Town Library. She and a couple of other campaigners are hoping to catch the attention of the Princess outside the library at noon with placards.

Mrs Burnham said the police have nothing to worry about.

“The only thing we get excited about is libraries but we do it in a very civilised way,” she said.

“There will be no shouting but there will be smiling and waving. She will probably only be there for about two seconds. We like her and hope she has a nice time.”

Shirley has been campaigning tirelessly to save the Victoria Road facility and has written to Princess Anne expressing her concerns. She is puzzled about how the police found out about her plans, as she had only told a few like-minded people.

She is wondering whether the Palace tipped off the police about her placard-waving plans even though she did not mention it in her letter.

She received an email from Inspector Madge Lynch asking for a quick chat about the planned “protest” on Wednesday.

Mrs Burnham added: “Her Royal Highness’s minders have to be meticulous about possible subversives and noisy demonstrations. Of course they must be careful. My only concern would be if the prompt to check me out was made by someone local. That would be outrageous.

“I have to say that, as authority figures go, the inspector I spoke to was very nice, informal and friendly. They had orders to have a chat with me, from much higher up.

“I wrote to Buckingham Palace and it may be that they routinely forward such correspondence to the local police, for security reasons. That is fine with me.”

Old Town Library has been under threat of closure in order to save Swindon Council £22,000. Consultation is ongoing to decide its fate.

Deputy council leader Fionuala Foley said there is an opportunity for the Old Town community to take on the running of the library to solve the problem.

Inspector Madge Lynch could not be reached for comment.

Print article » Email to a friend »

 

Your Say YourSwindon Advertiser

JeremyB, Buscot says…
8:08am Fri 22 May 09

It is the quotation from Fionuala Foley that is the most sinister aspect here. She still can’t seem to understand that the people of Swindon pay a large amount of money to be provided with a professionally run public library service. That money should be used to pay full time staff to run the libraries. The figures that have been published clearly show that within the funding of the public libraries there is absolutely no reason why the council, if it needs to save an amount from the libraries budget, has to take it from the staff cost of small libraries. There are evidently many other ways. We have all been shown that, over several months. Why can’t Councillor Foley listen and understand? What is wrong with her and the officers who advise her? It is so simple. She is still saying the same thing she said in December and evidence has shown that it is not correct. Will somebody help her?


Report this post »

Bobby Bee, swindon says…
8:31am Fri 22 May 09

Good luck to Shirley. It is a tough job leading protests and she must be very tired by now. Let’s hope something is done to help her cause.


Report this post »

Everhopeful, says…
8:32am Fri 22 May 09

I certainly plan to go ! Princess Anne is the best Royal in my view. I see that Councillor Foley, who will hold the portfolio for Libraries, is singing the same old song about volunteers “running” our library. That is not an adequate description of what volunteers would be required to do …. Yesterday, however, she said she would examine all options. Has she changed her mind again, within 24 hours? I hope not, otherwise the consultation is a sham.


Report this post »

Common Dreads, Swindon says…
8:36am Fri 22 May 09

A 61 year old lady campaigning to keep a library open?

I don’t think Anne’s Secret Service minders will be overly troubled.


Report this post »

Big-Brother, Broome Manor says…
8:50am Fri 22 May 09

Give her a break; she is campaigning to keep your library open, Old Town boy!

You’re always quick to complain but you never try to help.

Good work Shirley; you are a great example of a caring community person.


This entry was posted on Friday, May 22nd, 2009 at 7:57 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

One Response to “Police anxious about Old Town protest- er, why?”

  1. David Peaple says:
    May 26th, 2009 at 7:12 pm

    Having just read the letter from the Green Party, I have to say that Ms Foley is tarred with the same brush as other councillors. Once they’ve made up their minds on a course of action they do not like to be opposed, even by the people they’re supposed to represent! This episode must surely show that the campaign to save our libraries is really getting to her! Good for Shirley.

Leave a Reply