26 May (Part 2) - Tory cuts. First sign of things to come
Someone mentioned that Bexley had cut funding for
Open House while I was at the count on
Thursday. I forget who made the comment but it must have been someone from
Labour as none of the Tories engaged in more than social chit-chat.
I would probably have forgotten the comment totally if it wasn’t for Penny Duggan’s Saturday Tweet.
I know what Open House is, it’s the one day of the year when tourist attractions
affiliated to the scheme allow free admittance. Presumably it raises awareness
of attractions generally and we have quite a lot in Bexley. Crossness, Red
House, Hall Place, Danson House etc. And it isn’t likely that visitors go away
without spending money on something or other. They may even become members of
the Crossness Trust or whatever. But not this year.
There is very little hard information to go on at present but I think I have worked
out that by turning their back on this annual initiative Bexley will save
the £5,000 subscription to the Open House organisation.
This is taking Tory cuts to a new level.
Presumably we have councillor Don Massey to blame for this. First he plans
to lose the borough’s history in a cupboard
in Bromley. Then it was the permanent
cancellation of the Danson Festival
and now there is no reason for tourists to come to Bexley on Open House Day. They
will go to any one of the other London boroughs who participate instead.
Penny Duggan is Secretary of The Bexley Historical Society.