Published: 18/03/2010 09:00 -
Updated: 18/03/2010 16:02
A SCHEME providing leisure activities for the over 50s across Harlow has been disbanded in the wake of council cuts.
Harlow Council’s decision to withdraw administrative support for Active Retired from April was branded a disgrace at the group’s annual meeting.
Members who packed into Abercrombie Barn for the meeting agreed to form a new group – Harlow Re-formed Activities – in its place.
“Our members really are fuming,” said chairman Bob Worthington. “What the council has done is vicious. We’re angry at the way pensioners have been treated. Every party makes promises for us but then they don’t do what they say.”
Members of the new group will have to deal with applications and membership cards themselves, as well as collect subscriptions.
Mr Worthington said: “We’re bending over backwards to keep this going. Our treasurer is in hospital and he’s been making telephone calls from his hospital bed to help set this up.
“We’ve never done this before and we know that there will be mistakes.”
Scheme member Ron Tull (82) said: “The council ought to be proud to be associated with Active Retired but they’ve washed their hands of us. We raise lots of money for charity and it keeps us fit and healthy.”
Active Retired was formed 27 years ago by Harlow Council to offer a diverse programme of town-wide leisure activities for the older generation. However, subsequent administrations have gradually scaled back involvement until financial support was stopped some years ago.
Last month the Conservative-run council announced a freeze on its share of the council tax bill, promising to “put residents first”. But this resulted in cuts in the authority’s support for community groups.
Group members plan to present a petition calling for the cuts to be reversed to a meeting of the council next Thursday. And they have already received the support of Harlow MP Bill Rammell, who has vowed to fight for the scheme.
“It shows that Conservative councils cannot slash their budgets without cutting services which are most valued by local people,” he said. “I strongly urge Harlow Council not to cut this valued scheme.”
Councillor Tony Hall, chairman of the council’s environment and community committee, said that over the years the group had become increasingly self-sufficient.
“Every other group in the town carries out this function themselves,” he said. “The group has over 1,000 members so it has a very strong base on which to continue.
“We have heard the group has recently reformed and wish them well for the future.”
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