April 2007

Following the Guardian’s article by Jonathan Glancey (Wonderful World, G2, April 17), Cllr Naz Sarkar’s letter, professing astonishment, and containing serious misinformation, was published on April 19th. This prompted a flurry of replies - four of which were published in Saturday’s Guardian (News from Waltham Forest, April 21).

The letters were accompanied by a clever illustration showing secateurs marked with the Waltham Forest logo cutting Morris’s Willow: an apt illustration of the death by a 1000 cuts that the Gallery’s budget has endured.

The national Guardian features the story today. See Jonathan Glancey’s article.

What to do
Please see what you can do in the left hand column. It is vital that we continue to communicate with the Councillors and MPs to ensure they understand the importance of these resources and how cutting the opening time and specialist jobs will lead to their deterioration.

The future of the William Morris Gallery and Vestry House Museum will be sealed by Waltham Forest Council today. It is unlikely any concessions have been made despite an enormous public response. As soon as there is a public announcement it will be posted here.

The Council’s Response
In the meantime.. you may recognise these letters…. the 3 letters contained in this PDF are samples from Cllrs Clyde Loakes, Naz Sarkar and Clive Morton. They’re practically identical and address few issues that thousands have raised. If you received one of these standard responses and do not feel satisfied with the communication, please pursue and ask for more details from them.

Open Letter
Martin Stuchfield, Chairman, Friends of William Morris Gallery presented Cllr Loakes, Leader of the Council with this open letter (PDF will open in a new window) on 10 April.

The start of April brings with it the chance of supporting the Gallery further. Please see ‘Become a Friend’ below.

We have only until 13 April  until the Council’s consultation period is over, so please keep up the pressure, if you haven’t yet heard back from the Councillors, please follow it up with a complaint.