This is the final blog before the hustings on Monday 24 June at Merton Arts Space at the back of Wimbledon Library.
The event has proved to be very popular, and we have had to close the online registration as we are now at capacity. An email has been sent out to all attendees giving details of the event but in case that hasn’t been received we are replicating much of that here. Further information is also on the event pagehere:https://wimbledoncommunity.org/election-hustings/
Thank you to those people who have registered. We have picked up that there have been a couple of other hustings arranged in Wimbledon. This one has been made open to all local constituents so has meant quite a bit of additional work for us!
Access to the event will be via the side entrance to the library at Compton Road. Doors will open at around 7pm and the event is due to start at 7.30pm and will finish around 9.30pm. You will be required to provide details of your registration on entry and there is likely to be some queuing so please arrive with plenty of time. There is no interval planned but there will be access to toilets during the event if needed.
Attendees will only be allowed to bring in small personal items (eg. paper / mobile phones) with them as well as a small bottle of water if required. We reserve the right to move any larger bags or items into a separate area although attendees should take note that we accept no liability for any items left with us.
We have contacted all nine candidates and invited them to attend and speak. Candidates need to make themselves known to us when they arrive and will be admitted first.
We have received a lot of questions and are currently assembling them into topic areas. The plan is to give each candidate the opportunity to make a two-minute verbal presentation at the start and a one-minute summary at the end.
We intend to give each candidate up to one minute to speak to each topic but reserve the right, in conjunction with the facilitator, to continue topics if there is significant interest in further discussing any one item. Candidates have not been made aware of subject matters in advance other than to say they cover both local and national issues.
Should any attendee require support of any kind including special seating or if they have other accessibility requirements do email us at general@wimbledoncommunity.org and we will see what we can arrange. We are still hoping to do an audio-visual recording of the event for future public access, but we will not be livestreaming it.
We hope the event will provide a good opportunity to find out more from each of the candidates but ask attendees to behave respectfully at all times throughout the evening.
The event has been funded directly by us and is provided free of charge in association with https://www.sustainablemerton.org/ and we are hugely grateful for the support of Diana Sterck (CEO) who has agreed to facilitate the event. Notwithstanding that if you wish to make a donation to help support our charitable work and our website development you can do so here https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/WimbledonCommunity?utm_term=89qqzK6q2
Next week’s blog will be back to normal, and I’ll start to reflect on what has been an interesting if challenging period organising the event and what we are planning to do on the back of it!