and true to his word of the night before, Richard Church was there to receive it. He waffled to the Press, as you'd expect, but I think the signatures on that Petition rattled him. It represented 11,000 plus shoppers who disagreed with his plans for the Market Square, and really it is just the tip of the iceberg.
If for every shopper who signed the Petition there are nine other people who didn't get the chance to sign but fully agree with it, that's more than half the population of Northampton.
As for signing it - people were queuing to sign right up to the last minute. Even after we'd gone to take the Petition in they continued signing the forms that were left, so we had to hand these in to Richard Church later. If you want to sign, it's still up here on the Internet:
http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/NorthamptonMarket/
I would like to thank all those people who have helped us on this campaign so far, particularly those who put out petition forms to be signed, collected them, and helped in the everyday running of our operation. I would like to thank those who worked behind the scenes, writing letters, typing, printing, and working on the Internet.
I would also like to thank the people of Northampton, the hundreds of people who came to us and thanked us for standing up to tyranny, for encouraging us, and for telling us we were doing the right thing; and I would like to thank all of the thousands who came and signed our Petition right up to the last minute.
My thanks also go to those who came with us to the Guildhall to present our Petition; not only shoppers and market traders but also representatives of the tenants and residents of Northampton, and representatives of those who are fighting to prevent cuts to our essential services. My personal thanks to the very distinguished elder statesman of this town who also marched with us to the Guildhall, and lent our presentation a certain dignity.
To see a nice collection of pictures of the event, go to this photo gallery:
http://www.ksb-photography.com/portfolio45145.html
We shall be taking a break from the campaigning for a week or so now to get ourselves organised for this forthcoming move. But we can assure you we're not going away; our campaign does not end with the handing over of our Petition. We shall be letting the people of Northampton know whenever the council puts on an event that is a farce; whenever a decision is made that is wrong and costly and wasteful. We shall let them know when traders complain about the flimsy gazebo stalls the Liberal Democrats have given them; and we shall let them know whenever a long-standing trader has to leave the market.
One mistake NBC have made recently is paying over the odds for new poor-quality red and white stall sheets; at £150 a sheet for 150 sheets that's £22,500 for sheets that we've been told by the senior market officer are so flimsy we must not put clamps or clips on them. All traders use clamps and clips to extend covers for rain or sun protection, put up rain sheets in wet weather, put up signs, and generally keep things ship-shape. There isn't an outdoor market in Britain that doesn't use clamps and clips. Our present £40 cotton stall sheets stand up to clamps and clips for at least a year before wearing thin; these new ones at £150 go through in less than a week. What rubbish! Do you get the feeling that someone has been conned? Take a look at them on our market website here:
http://www.northamptonmarket.biz/html/more_news.html
The incompetence of those in charge just gets worse, doesn't it?
