Accord..ing to the Council

First Minister Alex Salmond has had face to face discussions with Glasgow City Council leader Gordon Matheson about the East End’s Accord Centre for people with special needs.

They took place in the past week when Scotland’s First Minister was also negotiating at Westminster.

It is believed the agreement between the two men is that Glasgow City Council will buy a building for the exclusive use of the people who currently attend the Accord Centre. The intention is to keep the special needs community together. This is what the families have fought for over the past months. They had believed they would be given a ‘like for like’ building as the Dalmarnock Centre is to be demolished. The Centre is used by more than 60 families who have family members with special needs such as Down’s Syndrome and Autism and multiple special needs.

Said Grace Harrigan one of the Accord Centre parents and a spokesperson for the group: I’m not counting chickens before they’ve been hatched. We’ve been down this route before with the City Council. The last time they promised us space to replace the Accord Centre we were told we’d get a community centre. After waiting for a reply, we were told it would be one room in a Community Centre. Later that expanded to the use of the community centre facilities along with other users. That is simply not suitable for our needs.’

Grace added that the day after Alex Salmond had visited the Accord Centre to see first hand what the issues were and to meet users and their families, much of the equipment used by the special needs families was removed.

‘The place was stripped,’ she said. ‘The rebound trampoline has been taken away and the sensory room and softball facility has gone.’

Grace’s 25 year old son has Down’s Syndrome. ‘The place is a lifeline to us all,’ she said.

A spokesperson for the First Minister said: “This was a helpful and constructive meeting between the First Minister and Glasgow City Council leader Gordon Matheson, and we are hopeful that a solution can be found which allows this vital service to be housed in suitable premises.”

Cllr Gordon Matheson, Leader of Glasgow City Council, said: “I was delighted to welcome the First Minister to Glasgow and explain the facts of the matter to him.
 
“We are in complete agreement on a way forward for the carers and service users.  It is greatly to be hoped that this will take the politics out of the situation and allow us to concentrate on the carers and services users.
 
“We will be communicating and consulting with them in the coming days and weeks.”

Other side of the Accord story

In a lengthy statement from Glasgow City Council, some of the information given out at the Accord centre by users’ families to Alex Salmond, was disputed.

Following dicussions and consultations from October 2007, a sub group to examine how to reform Learning Disability Day Service provision was set-up in May 2008.

At that time, around 850 people with a learning disability were signed up for day support at 11 day centres across the city. Two areas were highlighted – building -based activity to help to encourage therapeutic interventioins for those who need and benefit from them. And encouragement of participation in community based activities and opportunities.

Among the reforms noted was: To provide a balanced service with less emphasis on specialist buildings and greater emphasis on community focused/ connected care.

By 2010 the 850 service users of 2008 had been reduced to 693 service users.

At least 90 events were held between October 2007 and April 2008 as part of the consultation process.  And Service users and carers were ‘directly involved ‘ in a number of strategic workstreams.

The City Council’s Executive Committee agreed in October 2010 to implement  Self Directed Support. This meant that every person registered with a learning disability and funded by GCC would complete a Self Evaluation Questionnaire and be responsible for deciding how to spend their funding allowance.

West End Festival programme out

More than 150 pages of events are on offer in Glasgow’s West End Festival which runs fromFriday 3 to Sunday 26 June.

The Parade takes place on Sunday 5 June and is reckoned to be the biggest procession of its kind in Scotland and possibly the UK.  Events range from Lobey Dosser day to fiddle workshops, from gardens for beginners to health walks, from talks on tenements and the King James Bible. Madrigirls will sing. Brass and Russian sacred music will intermingle with an international organ festival and live jazz.  All – and much more – are on offer during the West End Festival. Pick up a programme fast or see their website: www.westendfestival.co.uk

Events for children, Greek Thomson’s Sixty Steps, Fete de la Musique on Sunday 19 June To Cinema in Kelvingrove Park from Thursday 23 to Sunday 26 June and dozens of other intriguing events are all there to temp us. The bonus is – many things are free!

Volunteers wanted for South Side Festival

Anyone keen to help with the running of the fabulous South Side Festival is invited to a stewards meeting on Thursday 26 May between 6.30pm and 8.30pm in Queen’s Park Church, 170 Queen’s Park Drive, Glasgow G42 8QZ.

On the day of the festival – Saturday 28 May  in Queen’s Park Recreation Ground – a big team of helpers will be needed. The procession will need stewards to follow it, people to take part in it and a variety of tasks around it. Others will be needed to give out information, look after the stage area where lots of live music is scheduled – plus the putting up and taking down of marquees and keeping the Recreation grounds tidy during and after the event.

The Festival has started as you read this ENEWS. On Friday 20 May, Eleanor McEvoy, Lorna Brooks and Neil Sturgeon launch the music run-up to the Big Day, with a show in the Glasshouse, Queen’s Park at 8pm. From then till the Festival proper, it will be music (almost) all the way with a wide variety of acts in various venues. Check the Festival’s website: www.southsidefestival.org.uk for full details.

EDITORIAL

There is discord over the Accord Centre in Glasgow’s East End. The City Council say they’ve been addressing the issue for almost two years. But the Community Health and Care Partnership which originally was tasked to improve conditions at the centre, has been reformed into new bodies so the original people are not in post to answer for the promises families believe were made.

 The people with Down’s Syndrome, Autism and other complex conditions used to share the  unpreposession premises with a group of senior citizens. But the Care Commission deemed the place was below standard for the seniors and they were moved out. Leaving the most vulnerable folk, last to be looked after.

It is all a far cry from a state of the art, purpose-built centre to cater for the needs of people with severe learning disabilities. But they were not promised that. They may have been promised a ‘like for like’ building. But surely they deserve much more ?

In these days of austerity it will be nothing short of a miracle if anything can be delivered.

McFrankenstein tackles the Missing Link.

Up to 20,000 people are expected to take part in the M74 Bike ‘n’ Hike event on Sunday 22 May. Before the ‘missing link’ stretch of motorway from Shields Road to Polmadie to Fullarton Roundabout is opened to traffic, the M74 Project Partners and Contractor have agreed to let pedestrians, cyclists and runners cover the whole 14km stretch or parts of it, as people are able.
If you spot a cyclist dressed as McFrankenstein (Frankinstein with a Scottish twist) cheer him on and support him as he’s doing the whole 14km in aid of Yorkhill Children’s Foundation.
‘So far, I’ve raised around £200,’ said McFrankenstein who is known to his friends as Colin Todd.
‘I have my own Facebook page for the event: http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Colin-Todd-M74-Bike-n-Hike-event-in-aid-of-Yorkhill-Childrens-Foundation/209718129061513. It gives a link to my Just Giving website too,’ said the care worker. He has done several similar fund raisers – including the route between Glasgow and Edinburgh in the Pedal for Scotland event. ‘A friend’s son was in intensive care for three weeks after he was born so I knew, though his experience, and his ongoing care, how important the Yorkhill Children’s Foundation is. And like to support it when I can.’
People can register up till noon on Friday 20 May to walk, run or cycle the route. The event will start from the Shields Road Car Park in Scotland Street. The road formally opens in June.
Further information from : www.yorkhillchildrensfoundation.org and
www.glasgow.gov.uk/en/Residents/Parks_Outdoors/m74bikenhike.htm.
Colin’s Just Giving site: www.justgiving.com/Colin-Todd0/

Some accord at the Accord Centre

The day before he was elected First Minister for a second term, Alex Salmond sat with Glasgow families in the Accord Centre in Dalmarnock to hear, first hand, their concerns about its demolition. In an easy and interested manner, he talked to many of the 50-60 people there. And he listened closely to what they were saying.

The uninspiring building was to be flattened and used as a bus park for the 2014 Commonwealth Games. But those who use the place – people with conditions such as Down’s Syndrome, autism and other special needs and their families – have protested loudly and brought a temporary halt to the proceedings. They had understood the facility would be replaced ‘like for like’. Instead they had been offered space in an existing community centre which was not suitable for the special needs of the folk who used the Accord Centre on a daily basis.

Said Grace Harrigan, whose 25-year-old son Craig Anderson has Down’s Syndrome: ‘I believe Glasgow City Council thought we would not put up a fight. They thought we were young mums they could bully. But 120 people use the Accord Centre and we are part of a citywide carers network.’ She said the carers had made many approaches to their local Councillors. ‘They did not even phone back or email us back. The two MSPs stopped answering our emails.’ Explaining that the area has been, traditionally, a Labour stronghold, the local centre users and carers were very disappointed by this lack of response from elected representatives. ‘After all, these were the people we voted for,’ she commented.

Having once met Billy McAllister, an SNP Councillor for a different part of the city, she contacted him in desperation. ‘At last, someone seemed to be listening,’ said Grace.

About the same time, one of their supporting groups – Citizens United – which had challenged Iain Gray on such cuts and caused him to run out of Central Station – took up their cause in a face-to-face meeting they were given with Alex Salmon during the election campaign. ‘He told us that he, personally, would look into the situation as soon as the election was over,’ said Citizens United leader Sean Clerkin. ‘And he’s kept his word. I think the Labour-led Glasgow City Council will have to giveway to these demands and give these families a ‘like for like’ centre. If they don’t they will be breaking up a community of the most vulnerable people.’

Carers from Riddrie who were part of the support network for the Accord Centre told the LOCAL NEWS: ‘We know we’ve got to stick together or we’d get nowhere.’ Ina Ross and her son Graham look after another son, Stephen who is 37 and has Down’s Syndrome. ‘The Accord Centre is a life-saver for us. He considers coming here is going to his work. With all the talk of closing it, he’s frightened he won’t get back to his work,’ said Ina.

Another family whose 32-year-old son, Paul, has been attending the Accord Centre since he was 19, said the knock-on effect of the proposed closure had been noticeable in his behaviour. ‘It has been shocking. He’s swearing and behaving badly. He is clearly very upset,’ said dad Andrew.

Helen McCourt explained that the community centre she’d been told her 28 year old daughter Laura would attend was in Easterhouse. ‘I don’t drive so it would take me two buses to get there. She would be taken there, given tea and toast and then have nowhere to go and nothing to do. She has Down’s Syndrome. I need to know she’ll be safe and she wouldn’t be in that environment. In the Accord Centre she has lots of things to do and friends and people she knows.’

When Alex Salmond arrived he was shown round the Centre by manager Vivienne Ferguson. Then he met the families. One of the first people he spoke to was wheelchair bound Joseph Loughran who is 24. ‘Did you vote SNP,’ questioned the soon-to-be First Minister. ‘Yes!’ was the resounding reply. Joseph’s parents Helen and Joe said that a community centre was not a suitable place for Joseph to go to because it was open to the public and that made him vulnerable. ‘He has many complex needs. They can be met in the Accord Centre. He knows the place and feels confident here. We know he’s safe here in a caring community,’ said Joe.

Several of the regular users of the Accord Centre spoke up for themselves directly to Alex Salmond. Cheryl McArthur (32) told him: ‘I don’t want to go to a community centre. All my friends are here. And I’d love to come here five days a week.’

Laura McLauchlan (27) said: ‘I come here three days a week and would like to come five days.’

When the conversation turned to establishing what, exactly, the Accord Centre families had been promised, Alex Salmond asked for minutes of meetings. Quickly scanning them he pointed out that a ‘like for like’ centre was described ‘if possible.’ Said Mr Salmond: ‘Those are weasel words. The intention is clear.’

Promising to follow up the meeting, he left after almost two hours of discussion.

Later his office issued a formal statement: ‘During the election campaign I met many people who benefit from the Accord Centre. They put a good case to me for the future of the facility. They told me that a commitment had been made to them by Glasgow City Council some years ago, that if the centre had to go to make way for the Commonwealth Games as part of the local authority’s programme of modernisation, then they would be offered a like-for-like replacement. I was asked to come and see the centre so that I could understand why those who benefit from the services it provides believe that the alternative they are being offered is not appropriate. Today I was proud to meet staff, carers and service users as well as local people campaigning to save the centre. I think it is an important service for the community and I will continue to urge Glasgow City Council to ensure it is re-housed in suitable premises.’

Glasgow City Council is preparing a detailed response to the issues raised by the families who are fighting for the Accord Centre for publication on this website. Their spokesman said that 22 of the registered users of the Accord Centre had agreed to move to a Centre in Riddrie and were due to start on Monday 23 May.

EDITORIAL

Work has started at Holyrood. MSPs have now sworn on oath, to do what people have elected them to do and uphold and make the laws of the land.
Time will tell how many will apply themselves with vigour to the task. And time will also tell how the political parties re-align themselves in the new balance of power. But first Labour and Lib Dems need to sort themselves out and find a cohesive strategy. Maybe, just maybe, they first have to find themselves and stop blaming the big boy who hit them and ran away.

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Coll gone!

It happened in five seconds. The demolition of 15 Coll Place in Germiston, in the North of Glasgow with 55kg of explosives. Once upon a time the 17 storey high rise was home to 102 households. But the last resident left in November last year. And in the early hours of Sunday 15 May, the building went the way of the two adjacent properties which were built at the same time in 1967 – Number 9 Coll Place which was demolished in 1992 and Number 15 Forge Place which was demolished in 2008.
The one and two bedroom apartments became unpopular as Glasgow Housing Association (GHA), gave tenants choices to have a house of their own with a back and front door in the surrounding area. The modest tower block at Coll Place was also expensive to run and required high investment to maintain.
To minimising the disruption and inconvenience to local residents, businesses and the railway line traffic, the ‘blow down’ took place around 1.30am. For safety reasons 250 residents in nearby homes were moved out overnight. Anyone from the 27 storey Red Road flats watching was forewarned – their blocks are in line for the same treatment.
A Scottish Government grant will cover the demolition costs of around £500,000 and around 90% of the 12,000 tonnes of rubble will be recycled. To see the ‘blow down’ for yourself, look at website: www.collplacedemolition.co.uk.

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