Sometimes a proposal comes along that is so objectiomable that it creates widespread outrage.
The plan to axe the Friary Community Education Centre and relocate the educational and musical services that it houses is one such proposal.
I am fully behind the campaign to save the Friary and keep the services it offers in the centre of Cardiff. I support the petiion that the Echo has started and I hope that as a community, we can stop the Council's plans in their tracks.
For many years now, the Friary has provided an invaluable service to the people of Cardiff and surrounding areas. Not only does it offer basic skills courses for adult learners in areas like literacy, numeracy and ICT, but it also houses the disability advisory service DART, as well as the Cardiff and the Vale Music Service.
The skills courses at the Friary are accessible to all and provide adults with the opportunity to gain the skills and confidence they need to function in work in particular and in society in general. They provide a wonderful stepping stone for people who might have missed out on opportunities earlier in life or who just want to build on skills that they already have.
If we allow the Firary to be axed without a figfht, we would be letting down all the people who have benefited from it in the past and who will benefit from it in the future.
Adult learners would not be the only ones to lose out. The Cardiff and Vale Music Service is also based at the Friaqry, employing 130 professional teachers and providing instrumental and vocal tuition, as well as tuition and resources for the 29 county ensembles which meet there.
If the Friary were to close, hundreds of children and young people, keen to develop their musical talents, would be left without a place in which to do so. The central location of the Friary is of paramount importance - its place in the centre of Cardiff where there are excellent transport links to and from places all over the region make it accessible to all.
If you would like to have a chance to voice your views about this issue, please come along to a public meeting that I have organised in Whitchurch High School (upper school hall) for tomorrow (Friday) at 7pm. Sue Essex AM, Councillor Sophie Howe and myself will be there, and Councillor Greg Owens has also been invited. We have also invited along Councillor Bill Kelloway, Executive Member for Education and Lifelong Learning - I hope that he will be able to come along and answer your questions.
The latest news is that it appears that the Liberal Democrat-run Council may be having a rethink. I hope so, but we must keep up the pressure to make sure that the Friary is saved.
Please think again, Councillor Rodney Berman.
Please don't throw away a place of joy and of excellence that has served so many so well over the years. |
