The Swindon branch of the community union ACORN has held the latest in a series of public events in their campaign to save the Oasis and bring it back into public ownership.
The event, originally intended to be in-person, was moved on-line in response to the increasing infection rate, and Swindon’s move into tier 3, then 4.
Over the Christmas period, supporters were asked to submit pictures of themselves with ‘Save the Oasis’ signs, which were then tweeted out to Swindon Borough Council, Seven Capital and members of the Oasis Task Force on Saturday 2nd of Jan. On the day, pictures of around 200 supporters were sent in. Both Swindon Borough Council and Council leader David Renard responded by blocking the ACORN Twitter account.
The virtual day of action took place on the day after GLL surrendered their lease of the Oasis, making it the first day the leisure centre was officially without an operator.
The event comes off the back of several other events organised by ACORN, including a ‘Day of Action’ at the Oasis in December, which saw supporters leave their messages on the Oasis, as well as a coordinated letter-writing campaign which saw around 100 people submit letters to the Council Scrutiny Committee.
ACORN member Gary Green said,‘We may have had to postpone our physical day of action, but no pandemic will stop us fighting to keep our Oasis open and back in public hands!
The number of people who took part in today’s event, as well as the 1000s who have already signed petitions, joined our last action and written to the council, shows the strength of feeling and a determination to campaign for our leisure facilities!
