Once in a while even Tower Hamlets Council can leave one literally lost for words. Earlier this year an ominous paper was approved by the Executive Mayor regarding using the Borough’s parks for revenue raising. The result was that Victoria Park, one of London’s finest open spaces, was used on successive weekends for concerts involving up to 30,000 people. This of course made much of the park unusable for families and children. The sum raised from this chaos was £250,000, which pays for a few editions of East End Life.
Nothing however, prepared for the news that the council had been negotiating for months to use Trinity Square Gardens, site of the Merchant Seamen’s Memorial, for parties over Christmas and the New Year. In fact the company intending to use the park, Moving Events, were actually publicising their parties even before a licence was granted.
There are tens of thousands of names on the Memorial, many of seamen as young as fourteen years. Who would propose locating a marquee with music, and drinking adjacent to this war memorial memorial?
Obscenely, it would have been open for business on November 22nd, nine days after the Borough’s remembrance ceremonies. Our poppies would have been swept away to be replaced by beer and wine glasses.
There are serious questions about the closed doors negotiations between the Council and Moving Events for which we will be seeking answers at council.
After a national outcry, the Mayor cancelled the hiring at the same time as Moving Events pulled out. However, how did this get so far?