LOCAL WOMEN DEFEAT TELECOMS GIANT

After ten grueling years of tireless campaigning by local activists Christine Mangat and Julie Mathew, work finally began today March 14th 2005 on the relocation of the Orange mast on Goffs Oak JMI and Nursery School to the National Grid pylon on neighbouring Brook Farm.

Since the installation of the Orange mast in November 1995, under cover of night and without consultation with parents or local residents, Mrs Mangat and Ms Mathew have maintained unremitting pressure on Orange plc, central government, Herts County Council, Broxbourne Borough Council and the Goffs Oak JMI and Nursery School in our determination to secure a safer environment for both school children and local residents.

"Over the past 10 years, the campaign has involved us in hundreds of hours of work, countless meetings with industry representatives, local and central government officials in pursuit of our single objective to remove the mast from the school, with no support or assistance from the authorities responsible," Mrs Mangat said. "In our view, made clear to Orange, the relocation site is still too close to local residents," she added.

Retired local primary school teacher, Christine Mangat and working mother Julie Mathew will continue to run the National Campaign and Lobby Group Mast Action UK they founded in December 2000, but now look forward to release from the demands of this local campaign which has dominated the past ten years of their lives.