Page 213 - It's a Rum Life Book 3 "Ivy House Tales 1970 to 1984"

On the stage were the education department sub-committee and there, centre stage the
originator of all our problems, the Chairman of the County Education Committee.

He simply repeated the by now stale excuses for closure. By this time, I am afraid I was
becoming more than a little agitated.

(Picture: Countwide media were there in
strength as the decision taken that evening
could have knock on effect with so many
other schools within the County who were
aslo under threat.)

The committee were taking not one bit of
notice of our own research. They took not the
slightest notice of anything we had to say in
response to their reasons for closure.
Something was wrong here.
Quite obviously, the decision had already been made. We were not getting a fair or
democratic public hearing. All our efforts were going to be bulldozed away in a matter of
moments.

I stood at the back of the hall and asked the only question I could.
In a voice loud enough to carry to the front of the hall, I asked the Education Committee
Chairman a question personally. “Who pays the wages of your “impartial” committee, your
task force”?
I immediately answered the question myself, “You do!”
I followed this with a statement. “How can we possibly expect an impartial and balanced
result of this enquiry when the whole committee of enquiry depend on the County
Education committee for their salaries?”

In the stunned silence I quickly asked a second question, “If this School closure
programme is so important and you want it to be supposedly open and democratic, why
are the sub committee not from other counties like Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire?”

The meeting turned into total uproar when the County Education Committee Chairman
launched himself off the stage, stormed down the isles and confronted me.
He accused me in a loud voice, in front of the whole hall, of defamation of character.

His character and if I did not retract my statement he would sue me personally. This
problem held no qualms for me. I had recently lost my business and my home. I was
virtually penniless. I had nothing he could take away from me.

We continued with our battle. The media were magnificent, reports of the meeting and its
“upset”, were soon Countrywide!

We had struck our opponents where it hurt most, in their own back yard.
Before the week was out, the Headmaster, myself and our deputy Chairman received an
invitation to a meeting that never officially took place.

We were asked to meet a small group of Political leaders of the County Council.

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