Hands Up for Herefordshire Day sees local action across the County (North Herefordshire Liberal Democrats)

North Herefordshire Liberal Democrats <info@northherefordshirelibdems.org.uk>

Hands Up for Herefordshire Day sees local action across the County

April 1, 2010 10:53 AM

Hands Up for Herefordshire Action Day in Hereford

The display on Castle Green, Hereford. Special mention must go to Hereford's Sea Cadets and Youth Action Team for their hard work!

With the government review of education provision continuing, Herefordshire's campaign for fairer school funding held a County-wide day of action. On Saturday 20th March, campaigners, volunteers, children and communities came together to show the importance of our schools. Campaign organiser Lucy Hurds and her teams of volunteers were joined by local politicians including MP for Hereford, Paul Keetch.

'Hands Up for Herefordshire' Day saw displays set up in Hereford, Ross-on-Wye, Bromyard and Kington. Hands decorated by children of the County were brought together and assembled by volunteers drawn from community groups such as Hereford's Sea Cadets, residents of Bromyard, Youth Action Team and V-involved volunteers.

Bromyard's Hands Up for Herefordshire display.

Residents of Bromyard came together with Lucy Hurds to support their schools.

Whilst not every school could provide hands (due to OFSTED reports and other commitments), hands to represent every pupil in the county were created by the volunteers and included in the final displays. These consisted of thousands of individual hand prints and represented over 23,000 children who are currently being short-changed by the grant given by Central Government to the County's education system.

Capturing the day's events on video was the 'Rural Media Company' who filmed each display and are putting together a short production.

The next stage for the campaign will be the presentation of a petition with thousands of local residents' signatures. The petition can still be accessed and signed online at www.handsupforherefordshire.org.uk. On Monday 29th Marc this will go to Minister for Schools, Vernon Coaker MP, along with a copy of the film production and interviews with members of the campaign, volunteers and local residents.