Stagecoach

The Forum Music Centre in Darlington is facing closure even though it has its best chance ever of gaining sustainable funding into the future. It needs a loan (not a gift) from Darlington Borough Council of £80,000 so that it can gain a grant from One North East to create the centre as a not-for-profit organisation, providing a ground-breaking facility for Darlington and the whole region to enjoy, which will promote music of all kinds to all ages into the future. Already the Forum is an immense resource and source of encouragement to young people. At a time of recession we need to invest in our young people not abandon them.  

I am writing to ask you to support the Forum because an important council meeting tomorrow will look again at its decision and the more people that sign the petition supporting its existence the more chance the Forum has of staying open.   I am asking for this support because I have known the founder of the Forum, Dave Cox,  for many years and a nicer man does not exist. He has selflessly pursued his dream of a first class music facility for Darlington for the last ten years - to my knowledge. He has sunk thousands of pounds of his own money into the project and put his heart and SOUL into it. He is one of a rare breed - an enthusiastic, selfless adult. Dave`s commitment and tenacity is an example to us all and I would be devastated for him if everything collapsed, just as security was on the horizon.  

Two of Dave`s children came to Stagecoach and the whole family has always been supportive of what we do and stand for. In return, I have tried to support the Forum whenever I can with hiring space there or recording studio time. Every showtime we have a sound rig and engineer from the Forum to support our shows.  If the Forum folded then we would certainly feel an acute loss of resources in what we are able to provide for our students. But it is on a personal level that I would be devastated for Dave because I applaud what he has tried and is still trying to do in the face of constant setbacks. We need a happy story of success against the odds to cheer us all up in dismal times, so please join the campaign.  

 Would you please help?  You can sign an online petition now by visiting   http://www.thepetitionsite.com/6/save-the-forum  Several people from the same household can sign from the same computer so long as after each time you click to sign the petition, you go into the part which says in small letters “your name? If not log out” - (just next to the “Sign Petition” notice) and log out. It will them create another field for you to complete. My other tip is to make sure that you type your christian name and surname into the 2 separate boxes otherwise it will not accept your signature - I sat for ages thinking the site had crashed.  

If you have your own connections with Dave and would like to support him more,  then a letter to the Northern Echo or Darlington Borough Council would also help. Jam the Council switchboard with requests of where to send letters to in time for tomorrow`s meeting! And if there is no success tomorrow, then ring anyway to ask where to send the letters of protest. That alone will show strength of feeling. The council switchboard number is 01325 380651.

This entry was posted on Monday, July 12th, 2010 at 1:04 pm and is filed under News, Parents. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.