Dear everyone

Thank you all for your incredible and indefatigable support for this petition which is putting increasing pressure daily on the council to halt its plans to demolish The Kingfisher Leisure Centre

Yesterday, I took the train up to Vauxhall and then the tube to Green Park to protest about Kingston Council's nomination for the MJ Awards’ local authority of the year award. The lunch and award ceremony for local authorities from across the country took place at the Park Lane Hilton

I was pleased to find that another lady from a different part of the Borough had also come to protest, which automatically doubled the numbers of protestors present

I attach a picture of my banner accompanying me on the journey from Norbiton on South West Trains

Many people attending the awards ceremony gave us a smile or a thumbs up and came to talk to us both about why we were protesting and why we think that Kingston Council is failing residents across the Borough

From Hounslow to Wales, from Redbridge to Stroud, people are becoming increasingly aware of the undemocratic destruction that is being wrought on Kingston’s residents and communities - a Royal Borough that bears some of the worst social deprivation in England but also enjoys some of the country's richest natural, historical and archaeological heritage

South West Londoner yesterday published an in-depth article on the council's plans to demolish The Kingfisher with no firm plans for a replacement

Strangely, my homemade 5-minute-post-dog-walk-masking-taped-cardboard-box banner for the protest was chosen as the feature picture to the article

Perhaps the banner sums up the limited resources to which we as residents have access in order to fight to protect our communities in comparison to the seemingly endless amounts of money that the council is able to spend on glossy brochures and pictures to create expectations that are not backed by firm plans or the money to finance them 

Please keep signing and sharing this petition to save The Kingfisher

We must insist that the Council stops its plans to demolish our town centre leisure centre