[OccupyComms] [OccupySheffieldPrivate] Occupy Isle of Wight Action

[jean wildgoose]

Brilliant to read that - thanks for letting us know what you're doing - we're in a bit of a no-man's land at the moment but are planning a pop-up camp outside the Town Hall this Friday /Saturday
Solidarity
Jean
Occupy Sheffield
 

From: occupy iow <occupyiow at hotmail.co.uk>
To: OccupyComms <occupycomms at email-lists.org> 
Sent: Wednesday, 7 March 2012, 1:56
Subject: [OccupySheffieldPrivate] [OccupyComms] Occupy Isle of Wight Action


Dear all, 

On Sunday OccupyIOW took small but important local action to highlight the issues surrounding a much loved but neglected building on the Isle of Wight.

 Frank James Memorial Hospital was built in memory of explorer, Frank James and gifted to the people of the small town of East Cowes by the James family in the 1890.   It was sold in 2002 to a developer. He obtained planning permission to build houses on the site adjacent to the building under the condition that he first restored the building, however he somehow managed to build the houses first and disappeared with the profits subsequently selling the building to a group of 12 developers who then left it to rot. It is a grade 2 listed building and is on the list of top 10 most endangered buildings in the country published by the Victorian society in 2006. Despite repeated efforts by local people over the last 10 years to push the Council into serving enforcement action upon the owners to protect this beautiful memorial, they have claimed they are unable to contact all of the owners and  the building and grounds have continued to be allowed
 criminally to decay.

We had initially hoped to Occupy the grounds forcing the owners to come together to evict us thus forcing them to repair the much neglected building, and in the mean time clear the grounds, restore them to their former glory and plant vegetables for the local community to share.

Due to the size of the Occupy group we were unable to muster numbers for a camp, however on Sunday we went in at first light and worked for 8 hours in the pouring rain, clearing 10 bin bags of rubbish from the grounds and sorting it for recycling, we found the front door behind a jungle of ivy, cleared the path and steps, and trimmed and pruned the hedges and shrubs. Throughout the day we were joined by increasing numbers of local people from age 5 to 75, members of local community groups and even local town councillors. Locals brought tea and food and the sense of community spirit was both heartening and overwhelming. One 17 year old who lives adjacent to the site is so keen he plans to return every weekend. We have secured the site with our own lock and the key is now held by a resident opposite so locals can do more work as and when they can.

We have been contacted by a 14 year old boy who has recently been doing a school project on the building and we are in the process of arranging to speak to his class at school....watch this space!

This small action has re-ignited the spark in a community who had lost hope in their building ever being returned to them, the community, with our help now plan to grow food on the site to reduce supermarket use and dependency. It has opened opportunities to discuss sustainability, our dependence on food imports to both the Island and the rest of the UK and to raise the important issues that Occupy stands for in a positive setting that is being welcomed by the community.

Solidarity

Julia

OccupyIOW
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