Queen Mary Centre, Open For Business!

As many know, the Queen Mary Centre in Wisbech has been scheduled for closure

in 2013.  I don't intend to discuss the

closure today as it's a whole other debate. 

But one of the things which were causing people concern was the

suggestion that it would not be available at weekends and evenings any longer. 

As one of the three county councillors for Wisbech, and at the request of

several of my constituents, I looked into the issue.  It turns out not to be any sort of conspiracy

to restrict access (as some had suggested), but a genuine problem related to a

change in situation.  Indeed, the centre

is still well-used and popular, with many diverse groups booking it and no

shortage of bookings.

The problem is that youth workers who have recently been

fulfilling the task of opening and closing "out of hours" have changed the way

they deliver services.  This means that

they will be dealing directly with clients rather than using the Queen Mary

Centre.  In turn, this meant that there

would be nobody available to handle the opening and closing of the centre at

weekends.  

The three county councillors for Wisbech; Simon King, Sam Hoy and I - put our

heads together and made a suggestion. 

Since we all live in Wisbech we felt that we could perform the opening

and closing at the centre.  Since I live

the closest, I will be handling the majority of the bookings, but Cllrs Hoy and

King will be supporting me to cover days where I have something else

booked.  This means that the centre can

continue to take "out of hours" bookings.

For those with a cynical outlook I'd like to assure you that we are

volunteering to do this for free, in our own spare time.  It will mean a few extra hours a week for us

looking after potential bookings, but if that means the centre can continue to

be a useful venue for local people, groups and activities then we are all quite

happy to do it.

I very much hope members of the public will see this as a useful way for local

county councillors to get directly involved with a problem and to provide a

common sense solution to it.

I picked up the keys last Friday and had the "training" required for alarms,

doors and caretaking procedures.  So

please – if you'd like to book the Queen Mary Centre you should go ahead and do

so.  It's open for business, even at

weekends!