Steve Brine visits Elderfield ex-offender residential training centre with Winchester MP.
Prospective Winchester MP, Steve Brine paid a visit to Elderfield House this morning (Friday 27 October 2008).
The facility is an eighteenth-century house in the village of Otterbourne, near Winchester, run by the Christian organisation, The Langley Trust. Elderfield specialises in working with a full range of ex-offenders and states its aims being “to assist each resident to live a fulfilling life which is crime-free and to offer new opportunities to meet individual needs.”
The organisation was at the centre of a great deal of suspicion and rumour earlier this year following the murder of 84-year old Georgina Edmonds in the village when four of its residents were arrested and questioned by police. They were later released without charge but the episode did little to improve relations between Elderfield and the nearby community which have been under strain in recent years.
Steve visited Elderfield with the current Winchester MP Mark Oaten and was joined by the Lib Dem PPC for Winchester, the local County Councillor and local district councillor (plus leader of Winchester City Council) George Beckett. Speaking after the visit Steve Brine said; “Mark and I both attended a heated public meeting in Otterbourne shortly after the murder of Mrs Edmonds and the representatives from Elderfield got a pretty hard time from residents, many of whom obviously feel there is some distance between the community and Elderfield. We wanted to meet with the team there and see what can be done to bridge that gap and get them working together again as used to be the case when the garden centre was open for business.
“I think we were all pleased to hear of plans for a new Community Liaison Group and the intention of Elderfield to host some local fundraising events next year but they need to do much more. There is so much good work that goes on at Elderfield and so many good news stories but they are just not interacting with the wider local community on any meaningful level and they are suffering as a result. We all came away greatly encouraged by our visit and we are pleased to say we have now a plan of action to work together for the good of Elderfield, its residents who desperately need our help and understanding and the local residents of Otterbourne and nearby Brambridge.”