As you know, Barnsley Central 38 Degrees is trying to develop a public campaign against the privatisation and cutting of children’s health services.

We have started a petition, written to all Barnsley Councillors and MPs, sent out a press release and will have a leaflet out in the next few days. The petition has nearly 100 signatures on-line and we collected about 300 on paper last weekend at a stall in Barnsley and on the coaches to the demo against the Tories in Manchester. You can view the petition on-line at https://you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/stop-privatisation-of-barnsley-children-s-services

Copies of the email we sent to Councillors and MPs and the leaflet we will be bringing out next week are attached.

We would like to ask the unions to do whatever they can to make the campaign as big as possible. Could you circulate the link for the on-line petition to all your members and encourage them to sign and get others to sign? It would be great also if you could publicise the stall that we will be having in Barnsley this Saturday,10th October. We will be on May Day Green petitioning from 10.30 to about 1pm. All are welcome to attend and join in. We will bring a megaphone.

Beyond that, we are open to suggestions. Possible ideas are a public meeting, a march around Barnsley and a lobby of the Council. We are open to suggestions, but definitely want to take things forward on a joint basis with the unions and the staff. We think the recent experience with the children’s centres shows that we will not get Barnsley Council to think again unless we mount a really bid, determined campaign.