Programmes are lifeline, say protesters
THREE angry protesters who took an Age UK petition with more than 630,000 signatures to Downing Street in August added their voices to Len’s demands.
Former Royal Navy hero David Hunter, 85, from Luton, pictured above in a wheelchair, said: “This is absolutely vital.
“I had 15 weeks in a cast because I broke my right leg – TV was my lifeline.
“Without it I would have been a cabbage.
“The cries are desperate. If this is taken away the NHS will be swamped with untold numbers of elderly people with stress-related illnesses. The Prime Minister has got to put this right and act immediately.”
Former NHS nurse Radha Virahsawmy, 76, from London, who was widowed at the age of 32 and left to bring up a daughter alone, said: “We live on our own and many of us are disabled so don’t get out for days.
“The only human voice we hear is on the TV. Without it we are doomed.”
Former insurance officer
Tony Gomm, 79, said: “Our incomes are lower and we spend more time at home.
“Television brings the world into our homes.”
The trio were accompanied by Age UK official Sue Linge.
Hundreds of thousands of pensioners have begged the BBC and the Government not to switch them off as the Downing Street petition last summer shows.
A grey army has been mobilised to try to reverse the decision that will leave many cut off from the outside world from June 1. Some protesters have picketed Conservative Party headquarters. Others have staged their protest outside BBC studios.
Londoner Elizabeth Nwawudu, 78, an NHS midwife for more than 40 years, said: “With the little pension I am getting I would not be able to afford a licence.
“I worked hard all my life and like many others feel I deserve my free licence. We’re being treated awfully.”
Doreen McKenzie, 72, said: “My aunt is 96 years old and I can’t imagine what life would be like for her without a TV.”