Keswick Town Council is exploring ways to prevent an “offensive” anti-abortion banner from being displayed in the area in future.
Kate O’Donavan, owner of Maple Bank guest house in Braithwaite, told a meeting of the town council last Thursday that she was one of a number of people who were offended by a banner which was erected by a group of anti-abortion demonstrators during the second week of the annual Keswick Convention.
“It was very offensive. It caused a great deal of upset,” said Ms O’Donavan, who has a background of having worked in marketing for 29 years.
“There are guidelines, there are ways to behave. I think if you preach a morality, you should also practise it.”
She told councillors that this was not about education. As far as she was concerned, it was marketing material.
“They have their website on there and they are promoting the organisation, therefore that makes it marketing,” she said.
“Whether you are promoting a thought or an advert for Brexit or anti-choice, you are still promoting something, it is still a marketing piece and the fact that they have a website there, with the URL printed on it defeats the argument that it is an education piece only.
“We know this will happen next year. We know these people will be back. Is there some way that we can be prepared for when they come back?
“Not only was it upsetting and offensive, which was morally horrible, it is also inaccurate. If you speak to any doctor, the image was not accurate – so they are also misrepresenting what is going on.”
Town councillor Rob Nelson, who liaises with Keswick Ministries – the organisers of the annual convention – said it was the highways department of Cumberland Council that has jurisdiction for this. He said a better system needed to be put in place for dealing with the issue.
Town clerk Vivien Little, who attended the latest meeting of the Keswick Ministries town liaison meeting, said: “Ministries were aware that they (the group) were intending to be in town that day.
“They wouldn’t let them be on their site and they also asked them not to come to Keswick because it was not appropriate.”
Ms Little told Keswick Ministries about the various complaints she had received from people who were very upset about the image.
“We need to ensure that we work closely with the Ministries to stop this moving forward,” she said, adding that there were avenues that they were looking at exploring.
“It is not family appropriate, that image, and we want to make sure that Keswick is welcoming for everybody.”
