Last Thursday I highlighted a newspaper’s revelation about a 90-year-old woman who was facing eviction from a care home in north Wales.
I am delighted to say, as the Daily Post reports, that Denbighshire county council has reversed its decision and Marion Brown is being allowed to stay on at Cysgod y Gaer near Corwen.
It followed protests from local people. Mrs Brown’s daughter, Maggie*, thanked them, and the newspaper, for helping to pressure the council into changing its policy. It had announced that the home would no longer take in permanent residents.
Maggie Brown said: “We would like to thank the Daily Post for its faithful coverage of this story, for championing the case of this 90-year-old woman, and for acting as a focus for widespread public unease at Denbighshire council’s high-handed actions in refusing to accept new residents”.
She also thanked “all the people in Carrog - my mother’s village - Corwen and the neighbourhood for their rock-solid support”.
Maggie also emailed me to underline the effectiveness of the local, regional and national press in bringing pressure to bear on elected representatives.
(Memo to the BBC’s head of content, James Harding: this story was not taken up by BBC Wales!)
The story is not over, of course, because Denbighshire county council has still to make up its mind whether to close its care homes. A public meeting in Corwen to campaign for them to remain open will be held on 26 February.
*Full disclosure: Maggie Brown writes for the Guardian