The last public demo in objection to the proposed mass closure of at least 22 primary schools and one middle school (incidentally – the most highly equipped school on the Wight, Nodehill) took place in Newport today.
According to the Police, there were around 500 people on the march which departed Church Litten at 11am and the Wall of Protest made its way down to County Hall. In our view, these were pretty good numbers given the horrid weather, lack of support from certain quarters and the fact that the results were already in for the survey.
Everyone gathered outside County Hall for around half an hour in the pouring rain and then made their way back to Church Litten.
There were many schools present with banners, including in no particular order, St Helen’s, Solent Middle, Greenmount, Gunnard, St Margaret’s – Ventnor, Brading, Oakfield, St John’s, Chillerton & Rookley, Whippingham and Yarmouth.
We spoke to many people during the march and asked one simple question ….
From the outset, what was your understanding of the reason for mass school closures?
There seemed to be a state of confusion as to the real reason for the proposed closures, but take a listen and hear for yourselves. [audio:http://otw-audio.s3.amazonaws.com/vox-pops-wall-of-protest.mp3]
In addition one lady spoke at length about the confusion of completing a questionnaire, so we thought we’d keep her vox pops separate. [audio:http://otw-audio.s3.amazonaws.com/problems-filling-form.mp3]
