Assocation of Dirty Classes

Two weeks ago staff at the Bethnal Green Center held a meeting to discuss what we should do next to counter Tower Hamlets' plans for doing away with the college buildings on Bethnal Green Road. I went along to see whether I could add value in terms of PR advice to the campaign which now goes by the moniker of 'The Association of Dirty Classes' (the inference being that in order to take these courses you need to get your hands dirty). There is innuendo in the title because what the Borough is seeking to do to the college, is also by implication, 'dirty' and underhand. And the third meaning is a pejorative one, in that 'dirty', insignificant and of little social value - is how the Council views these courses.

The college's comprehensive range of adult education courses are under threat because the Borough, in it's infinite wisdom, has decided to co-opt the building for the use of a local school, for a two-year period, while the school is being refurbished. In effect, this will mean that during the day the college building will essentially function as a school, while at night, it will continue to be available for use by adults - but only for a limited, less comprehensive group of subjects. As a result many local people will lose a valuable lifeline...a place where young, old and disabled people of every denomination come to take practical, vocational courses in skills ranging from silver-smithing and jewellery making...to flamenco, weightlifting, woodwork and Tai Chi. This is because many students who use the college will not be able to attend evening classes and they find the daytime courses in such a central location, an essential resource for them. This will particularly affect the Bangladeshi women in the community who rely on the college as their main outlet and means of expression outside the domestic home.

There has been some talk from the Council of moving a percentage of the adult students to the Rich Mix Centre on Bethnal Green Road during this two-year period. But this building lacks the technical machinery and tools required for jewellery, metalwork and woodwork classes. And the college is bound to suffer as a result of having its locations, staff and students split up and sent to different sites.

There has been absolutely no public consultation with the college staff and the students in advance of the Council simply announcing its intentions, on its website six weeks ago. The plans have been communicated with an appalling lack of regard for the people involved and their livelihoods. The timing of the communication is also apposite for the Council has chosen to drop the bombshell during the Spring/Summer recess period when the majority of students are not in college and therefore not around to join in any protests against the decision.

The Council says that the reason for these changes are because the new Idea Stores it wants to set up in the Borough, require more funding and more space. They clearly have their eye on the Bethnal Green Centre as a potential Ideas Store site. It's also worth pointing out that there is no safeguard in place to protect this building from being magically transformed by the wand of regeneration into luxury lofts in two year's time.

We of course know that there plans are sadly part of the 'incremental creep' moving this way, laterally up Bethnal Green Road. Both the City and the Borough are now seeing pound and dollar signs over every publicly owned building, school and playground. In the distance you can here the k-ching of tills closing as the stealth march comes closer.

It was decided at the meeting that we would hold a public march along Bethnal Green Road on Saturday 26th April, (next weekend if anyone's interested in coming along and joining in, the march will start around midday on Bethnal Green road, E2), to highlight the plight of the college. Since that meeting, energetic staff members have enlisted George Galloway's help, replete with his famous Routemaster battlebus to create a visual for TV cameras and local press.
(see www.bethnalgreencentre.blogspot.com for more information)

Rumour has it that famous fashion photographer, David Bailey, first took photography classes here in the sixties and that this was how he first started to learn his trade. We are trying to get in touch with Bailey himself via various routes. But if anyone else has any useful connections to Patsy Palmer or any other East End celebs, who might be interested in helping us to fight this campaign -please get in touch via my blog or the campaign blog above.

Many boxers and World Title holding weight-lifters have also been training at the gym adjacent to the college, which has been running since after the first world war, to help rehabilitate soldiers returning from the front.

Epilogue

There is a happy ending to this story. Last Spring (2008), following a rally and (well-attended) march down Bethnal Green Road to the college, the council caved into our demands for a stay of execution for the Association of dirty classes. At a meeting of the council's education committee and local councillors, Kevin Collins, Head of Lifelong learning at Tower Hamlets, was forced, red-facedly to back down and announce that the college's courses, and its jobs protected for at least another year.

How was this result achieved? Well, I cannot claim to have played a silent role in this struggle. Behind the scenes, before the march, we issued a press release to local and national media, and I spoke to my contacts at ITN who made a couple of targeted phone calls to the council, which put the frighteners on them. On the day of the march, I set up radio interviews with Roberto Foth, union branch secretary and our campaign leader, with local london radio stations to get the message out.

But it was a joint effort. It all began with my friend Dave Boswell's brilliant efforts to get his woodwork students together a few wks previously for a meeting with the local Labour councillor, to convey their views to her in no uncertain terms. One of Dave's students who was in a wheelchair, came out and articulately proclaimed his love for these weekly classes and angrily denounced the council for threatening to close the college down. Apparently he ranted for about twenty minutes, during which time the councillor started to look quite intimidated. She realised what she was up against. She was snookered. Her face was a picture, as she realised that to close this college would run entirely against Labour's ideals, because this college is entirely the type of institution the Labour party should be looking to preserve, not destroy.

Dave also invited Michael Parker along, reporter for the Advertizer, who then wrote a brilliant, objective but illuminating article about the Labour councillors' thinly-veiled plans to dispose of the Victorian schools buildings and turn them into an 'Idea' store - one of Labour's key education policies.

There followed a stream of articles over several wks in the Advertizer which gathered momentum and formed a media campaign on behalf of the college and its students, holding the council to account. It was journalism at its best, doing what it does best, and what it should do - bringing out the truth, exposing the lies of politicians and helping to transform people's lives for the better. Paul Foot would have been proud.

The Advertizer printed the two letters that Kevan Collins had sent - one addressed to a student and one to George Galloway, our local MP - both saying different things. In the letter to the student Mr. Collins vehemently denied that the Council had any plans to close the place down, but in his letter to Galloway, he openly admitted that the building might have to be disposed of in the future to save money. Galloway then took up the cause and supported our march, continuing to write letters to Kevin Collins.

The council's ultimate decision was a great victory for the campaign and hopefully not a pyrrhic one, because the future of the college is still slightly uncertain - or at least less certain than absolutely secure. But at least most of the vocational classes, including woodwork and jewellery making are being allowed to continue and recently, after the birth of his first child, David Boswell got his job back at the college, part-time. The creche is still running in the hut in the car park there.

Some of the Esol (English) language classes have been moved to a wing of the Rich Mix Centre, further up Bethnal Green Road.

We hope that for now, Tower Hamlets has dropped its ludicrous idea of foisting yet another 'Idea Store' in Bethnal Green on the local people. It's possible that the recession is also playing its part. Lack of spare cash for ambitious building projects, even Government-funded ones, are failing to be realised.

Recently Roberto Foth played a key part in another campaign at neighbouring Tower Hamlets College, where he also teaches. They also held a march this Autumn to save their ESOL classes. Again the Advertizer has featured their struggle to keep going and to preserve this vital language teaching resource for a largely immigrant population in the borough, badly in need of education.