Celebrating 40 years of local action by Haringey's pensioners

Haringey Pensioners Action Group will be marking its 40th anniversary with a special event next week, writes Olivia Opara

Haringey Pensioners Action Group formed in 1983

A local pensioners’ group is hosting a community event in celebration of its 40th anniversary.

Haringey Pensioners Action Group (HPAG) will be holding its annual People’s Day event on Tuesday, 10th October, alongside Haringey Over 50s Forum, and will be marking the special anniversary.

Throughout the day there will be various stalls, refreshments, live entertainment, a tombola and guest speakers facilitating discussions on different topics. The event is free to attend and will be opened by Haringey mayor Lester Buxton.

HPAG was founded in 1983 by Jack Coghill, Bob Cottingham and Lew Smith – three local trade unionists – in response to attacks on pensioners and their standard of living by the then prime minister, Margaret Thatcher, who decided to remove the links between their pensions and earnings.

Jack, Bob and Lew formed three branches of the group in Tottenham, Hornsey and Wood Green, chairing each one respectively

During this time, other pensioner action groups formed across the country who now meet annually in Blackpool for the ‘Pensioners Parliament’ where they discuss and debate how they can improve the standard of living and lives of pensioners in the UK.

South Tottenham councillor Sheila Peacock, who started the People’s Day event during her time as mayor of Haringey and remains chair of the Tottenham and Wood Green Pensioners Action Group, said: “As a campaigning group we joined together with many other groups in London to protest against the constant attack on Pensioners rights.

“Sadly as we are all getting older we don’t march any more, but the spirit is still there and we are constantly petitioning parliament to improve the standard of living of all pensioners.

“We in Tottenham are a very friendly group whose main aim for existence is to improve the lives of all; our motto is ‘Working Together For You’.”

The People’s Day event will take place at Tottenham Green Leisure Centre from 12pm-5pm on Tuesday 10th. For more information:
Visit https://ho50s.org.uk

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