Keep Your Dirty Hands To Yourself

Sign this petition now! Save Heatham House Youth Club and here is why...

In short...
Richmond council want to sell the house and turn it into a hotel and so far, have not proposed, in any detail, a replacement. Richmond council's track record for this sort of thing isn't great either; in the 1970s they shut down the swimming pool - it still hasn't been properly redeveloped, in the late 80s they shut down the Ice Rink with the promise that it would be rebuilt - still no Ice Rink has been built and more recently they took control of a community hall with the promise they'd refurbish it and turn it into a Children's Centre - The playground is unfinished, they built the wrong things inside two of the rooms and they failed to deliver on the promised IT suite and the play managers office is still without a phone line!

The reason it's so great...
Phil and I attended Heatham House as angst ridden yoofs. It provided us [and other youth's] with the opportunity to be creative, gain confidence and mature into the ace adults we've become. In our friend group alone people like Loz from Hundred Reasons, Kiera Knightley, Laura from Blood Red Shoes, DJ Basher and Anna Calvi all benefited from it's existence. I know that sounds like it was some sort of school of arts or something horrific like that but what it did was allow these people the chance to explore, be creative and gain confidence in their art. Heatham House is a unique place and offers so much to the young people in Richmond and surrounding boroughs. Other than the recording studio, rehearsal rooms and a large venue Heatham house also offers facilities such as skateboarding, a football pitch, a sexual health clinic and most importantly, a place where the youth can be free to express themselves and develop social skills. It's fucking mint.

Richmond borough isn't the only wealthy borough in London yet it has by far the lowest youth crime rates - It also has the greatest youth club - coincidence?

I owe a lot to Heatham House and its workers. We should be building more Heatham House's, not taking them away. Please sign the petition.