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Monday, 05 Jan 2009

Brookside Community Centre Wins Grant for Youngsters’ Talent Competition

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I went along to present a grant to Charlie Farmer from the Brookside Community Centre today (Monday 5th January). The grant was provided by Barclay’s Bank to support local groups in their community activities. Charlie Farmer is a local hero, who has worked on behalf of our community for decades. I first met Charlie when he was setting up the Charville Community Centre back in the 1980s. At that time I was the Chair of the GLC’s Finance Committee and I awarded Charlie a grant to help open the new centre.

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The Attack on Gaza

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I have been extremely concerned at the loss of life and suffering caused by the Israeli bombing and now invasion of Gaza. Parliament does not come back from the Christmas recess until next week. This means that there has been no opportunity for MPs to discuss the issue and to determine what role the UK government should play. I believe that the UK government could assist in mobilising an international to bring about a ceasefire by putting diplomatic and economic pressure on Israel. I have called for the recall of Parliament to enable Ministers to report on their activities and for MPs to discuss this serious international situation.

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Sunday, 28 Dec 2008

Celebrating Christmas in our Community

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One of the great things about Hayes and Harlington is the continuing and growing strong sense of community. This Christmas I had the pleasure of being invited to the Christmas celebrations of several community groups. Two of my favourite events are the Cranford Good Neighbours Project Christmas party and the Christmas party of the Pensioners Friday Club that we set up as part of the Barra Hall Regeneration project. The club now meets at Hayes Cricket club every Friday and local older people have a really enjoyable time meeting old friends, playing bingo and having a good chat. I attended the Hayes and Yeading United match on Boxing Day and the club gave a new match football to all the youngsters attending the game. This was a really nice touch. We also won 2-0 against local rivals Maidenhead so this rounded off a marvelloues Christmas. I hope everybody had a good Christmas and I wish all my constituents a happy and peaceful New Year. With the recession hitting hard we will need to stand together as a community and help each other get through what are likely to be very difficult times.

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