Shropshire Star

Why Joyce Brand is making the headlines

Jo Brand's mother tells  about her campaign for threatened council staff Jo Brand's mother tells  about her campaign for threatened council staff [caption id="attachment_192942" align="aligncenter" width="475" caption="Joyce Brand"][/caption] She may have been the talk of Shirehall at last week's council meeting - but for Ludlow woman Joyce Brand making the headlines is nothing new. The 77-year-old, the mother of comedienne and TV personality Jo Brand, was the public face of a campaign to stop five homes being built in the shadow of Ludlow's 800-year-old St Laurence's Church – a fight which the protestors have since won. So when she grabbed hold of a microphone inside the council chamber at Shirehall on Thursday to tell the authority's decision makers what she thought of their plans to cut workers wages by 5.4 per cent it comes as no surprise to hear it was a pre-planned move aimed at attracting extra publicity for the Shropshire Fights Back cause. "When the debate was over I did something I hoped would cause a stir," she said. "I took hold of a microphone on one of the tables, switched it on and said that I honestly felt a sense of despair. "I could not believe they were treating their employees like that and I told them I hoped their consciences did not stop them from sleeping at night. "Two women came across to have a word with me, said I had had a good chance to talk and to chuck it in. I had thought about tying myself to the chair if I had had the time. "It was planned in advance – I think the campaign can only benefit from publicity." See the video here Mrs Brand was escorted from the council chamber after her stunt, allegedly while being heckled by some of the councillors at the debate. She had earlier clashed with council leader Keith Barrow during his response to her question over whether council cuts were a disguise for services being privatised – a claim Councillor Barrow has since described as "bonkers". Mrs Brand has no regrets over her actions – but had admitted she had previously sought the permission of her famous daughter to proceed to avoid being a "hideous embarrassment". Read the full article in today's Shropshire Star

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Jo Brand's mother tells about her campaign for threatened council staff

[caption id="attachment_192942" align="aligncenter" width="475" caption="Joyce Brand"][/caption]

She may have been the talk of Shirehall at last week’s council meeting - but for Ludlow woman Joyce Brand making the headlines is nothing new.

The 77-year-old, the mother of comedienne and TV personality Jo Brand, was the public face of a campaign to stop five homes being built in the shadow of Ludlow's 800-year-old St Laurence's Church – a fight which the protestors have since won.

So when she grabbed hold of a microphone inside the council chamber at Shirehall on Thursday to tell the authority's decision makers what she thought of their plans to cut workers wages by 5.4 per cent it comes as no surprise to hear it was a pre-planned move aimed at attracting extra publicity for the Shropshire Fights Back cause.

"When the debate was over I did something I hoped would cause a stir," she said. "I took hold of a microphone on one of the tables, switched it on and said that I honestly felt a sense of despair.

"I could not believe they were treating their employees like that and I told them I hoped their consciences did not stop them from sleeping at night.

"Two women came across to have a word with me, said I had had a good chance to talk and to chuck it in. I had thought about tying myself to the chair if I had had the time.

"It was planned in advance – I think the campaign can only benefit from publicity."

See the video here

Mrs Brand was escorted from the council chamber after her stunt, allegedly while being heckled by some of the councillors at the debate.

She had earlier clashed with council leader Keith Barrow during his response to her question over whether council cuts were a disguise for services being privatised – a claim Councillor Barrow has since described as "bonkers".

Mrs Brand has no regrets over her actions – but had admitted she had previously sought the permission of her famous daughter to proceed to avoid being a "hideous embarrassment".

Joyce said: "I explained to Jo why I needed to do it and she said 'That's fine, go for it Mum'.

"Jo grew up in Kent but she did come to Ludlow with us a lot when she was younger so she does have a link with the county"

Mrs Brand grew up as a socialist and a member of the Labour Party living in the south east and moved to Ludlow, where her family was originally based, 20 years ago.

But she insists her rebellion against authority is not based on political leanings but the wellbeing of rank and file workers at Shirehall.

She only joined Shropshire Fights Back a couple of months ago despite years fighting the corner of the people of Ludlow to stop homes by St Laurence's Church and the 15th century Reader's House being built.

Mrs Brand spent much of her career with the former Shropshire County Council working in social care, which she claims is where her passion for fighting for people's rights comes from.

She is still commissioned to carry out private work and chair's a fostering panel for a private agency.

"Maintaining an interest in the work I have always done is very important to me," she said.

"If I have the energy and the opportunity arises to have an influence on something where I observe injustice, I don't see how people can resist that.

Scale of cuts

"Many people ask why be a nuisance? But if you ask people in Shropshire or on the streets of Ludlow they have no idea what is afoot, how staff are being treated at Shirehall and the scale of cuts on the horizon.

"I understand the council has to make some sort of economy. But Shropshire Council has a vast amount of money in its reserves which Mr Barrow says they need because they do not know what they will face in the future.

"But in the present I think it is the worst crisis Shropshire has faced – there is money in the reserves but they prefer to reduce the standard of living of their employees.

"I just felt some of the councillors at the meeting were speaking with so little respect for the people who work for the authority. No-one said about the pain it would cause the employees.

"Some friends of mine could not bear to stay in the council chamber and actually got up and left. There just seemed to be a phalanx of yes men who raised their heads and nodded their heads to see the motion through without making any contribution to the meeting.

"I just see the reduction of the wellbeing of workers as totally unacceptable."

While the Coalition Government's cuts have caused pain throughout the country, one of the main arguments put forward by the Government has no choice but to make unpopular sacrifices.

So what would Joyce do if she was given the opportunity to decide Shropshire Council's next step forward?

"I would not put money into the reserves at the same time I was taking money out of people's wages," she said. "It does not make sense to me at all.

"On an international level people are starting to question the Coalition's policies and there are fears we could head back into a recession. But if you take money out of people's pockets in Shropshire, traders will have no-one to sell their goods to and it will be a downward spiral."