The Mayors Blog

The Mayoress and I were invited to officially open a new cafe in the Country Park at Hainalut Forest today. On arrival, I’v found the cafe well-designed and the kitchen spacious and clean. The Deputy Mayor and Mayoress were also there.

The view from the cafe was simply stunning – one can see east London’s skyline, the lake and the Forest. Whilst we were there, we met some of the runners from the Sikh Relay Marathon training for their next challenge. Best wishes to the owners Mr. and Mrs. Patel and congratulations to SPL Construction Services for undertaking and delivering a successful project.

The Mayoress and I attended the London in Bloom Awards 2009 at the Live Room, RFU Stadium, Twickenham this evening. Redbridge did not enter the competition this year but I am confident that we will be ready to play a part in the 2010 competition.

Today, the Mayoress and I attended the Open day of Caremark (Redbridge) and were met by Bejal Shah, its Managing Director. Caremark is a domicillary care provider franchise, emphasing on high standards of care and independence of the clients. All the care workers have to undergo training, vetting and assessment before they started working directly with clients.

Cllrs Keith Prince, Leader of Council, Filly Maravala and Vic Tewari were also presented at the Open Day. Good luck to Ms Shah.

Tonight, the Mayoress and I were invited to the prize giving and presentation evening at Ilford County High School. We were met on arrival by Mr. Morris Hickey, Chairman of Governors and Mr. Stuart Devereux, the Headteacher.

Lord MacGregor of Pulham Market PC OBE, a former Secretary of State for Education, was the Guest of Honour. Many students have distinguished academic, arts, music and sports achievements. Well done!

I was invited to attend a meeting of the Snaresbrook & Wanstead Rotary Club today. It took place at the County Hotel, Woodford Green. I was met on arrival by Mr. David Etherton and the Club’s President, Mr. Steven Gordon.

Mr. Geoffrey Brewer, a Past Mayor and colleague, was also there. After lunch, I shared with members on what I’ve been doing since taking office. I also introduced my two charities to members.

I was invited to attend a UK/China Roundtable event at the Locarno Conference Room, Foreign and Commonwealth Office today with other representatives from London’s Chinese community. The Rt. Hon. David Miliband MP, The Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs was in the chair and introduced the report “The UK and China: A framework for engagement”.

I raised two issues with the Foreign Secretary at the Q&A session. One, since there are currently 80,000 students from mainland China in our universities,more engagements are needed in order to raise awareness and understanding amongst these students on trade, manufacturing and other business opportunities in Britain. These contacts will enhance further trade links between the two countries. Two, local Chamber of Commerce should consider recruiting more enterpreneurs of Chinese background to be part of their local and overseas activities.

Other issues such as involving British Chinese artists at the Shanghai Expo next year, promoting a more positive image for the British Chinese community and an awareness of cultural differences between the two countries were also raised at the meeting.

The Mayoress and I atttended the licensing and induction of Revd Canon Ian Tarrant at St Mary’s Church, High Road, South Woodford at 6 p.m. today. The service was presided by the Rt Revd David Hawkins, Bishop of Barking.

Whilst the Bishop encouraged the new minister to grow his parisoners spiritually, I extended a warm welcome to Revd Canon Ian Tarrant and his wife on behalf of the Borough. I look forward to his active involvement in the local community and shared with him and everyone in the church that Redbridge’s vision is to make the Borough a better place to live, work and learn as well as to relax and to retire.

After leaving the Sikh Religious Procession at Seven Kings, the Mayoress and I arrived at Melbourne Fields for the Redbridge Carnival. We met the Carnival Queen and Princess, not only from Redbridge, but also from Maldon as well.

There were stalls, food, games and music. What’s more, we had pleasant weather as well. The Festival received support from Area Five Committee and other local businesses. It started yesterday with a procession and ended with a community event.

Instead of joining the procession which started from Barking and finished at the Seven Kings Gurdwara, the Mayoress and I met the procession at High Road, Seven Kings. A few hundred people were on the procession, including a few councillors from Redbridge, Barking and Dagenham. It was a joyous occasion for all.

Besides celebrating the first installation of one of its Gurus some 405 years ago, the day also celebrated the 10th Anniversary of the Seven Kings Gurawara. I also learnt that it is customary for the Sikh faith to run a free kitchen for all.

I attended the flower show organised by the Ilford Horticultural Society today with the Mayoress and we were met on arrival by Mrs. Doreen Hewitt, Chairman of the Society. We toured the different sessions – flowers, vegetables, fruit, domestic floral arts, handicrafts and the children’s section.

They were grown in private gardens, allotments and children’s gardens in schools. Later on, I presented the different medals and cups to winners in the different categories. What’s most interesting was the section where members were required to grow flowers from seeds – extremely challenging.