The Mayors Blog

Monday the 12th started off for me at Link Place for a Drama performance that had a message warning the elderly and frail about letting unknown /unsolicited people into their homes.
Later in the day Olive and I were at Gilbert Colvin Primary School to watch a performance by pupils from Caterham High School called Magic Mirror of Health. This was all about encouraging the eating of a healthy balanced diet.
The children loved the performance and Caterham students were really good.

In the evening we attended the Ilford Historical Society’s lecture about the life of Ethel Haslam. This was really interesting. Ethel was an Ilford suffragette.
So many people take voting for granted and don’t use their vote.
It is tragic that there are so many people in the world that would love to have the freedom to vote and so many people in this country do not use their one.

On the 13th it was great.
With the Theatre Club from the KMT we went to see Phantom of the Opera. Starring as the Phantom was Nic Greenshields, an incredibly talented young man who begun his career with Vivyan and the Palmerstone Stage School.
He was fantastic in the part, absolutely brilliant. Nic is also a really nice young man. It was just wonderful to see a local man in that role.

On the 14th I had the fun and privilege of turning on the Christmas Lights in the Town Centre.
There was a good crowd, an excellent DJ, great youngsters from the Palmerstone Stage School, characters from the pantomime, starting soon at the KMT and jugglers with “lit up” costumes.
There was an excellent atmosphere and after the light came on a wonderful firework display.
This years pantomime at the KMT is Jack and the Beanstalk.

Later on that evening Maire, Olive and I attended a concert put on by the Redbridge Music School.
As always it was of an extremely high standard and so enjoyable.

Thursday the 15th was the main Council meeting, which, as the Mayor, I chair.

Friday the 16th had three engagements. The day started at Ilford County High School with the official opening of the impressive Library/Resource Centre. How versatile and useful this facility will be to the pupils.
Chris Ryan, the author and SAS member was there to do the official opening.
He was so interesting and told us so many fascinating things.
Olive and I went on to the AGM of ELHAP.
This adventure play area for children with disabilities is a wonderful facility and highly valued by the young people and their families.
In the evening Maire, Olive and I went to the KMT to watch the IODS production of The Witches of Eastwick.
This was excellent and what was particularly impressive was that the three witches “flew”.
It really was an excellent production, if you saw it I know you will agree with me.

On Saturday the 17th we supported two Christmas Bazaars. One at St Barnabas Church and the other held by St Francis of Assisi. I really enjoy going to fetes, bazaars and car boot sales etc.
In the evening we were at the Tower Hotel at a function to support the Guru Nanak Home for Handicapped Children in Ranchi, India. We were so impressed with the film showing the way the children’s lives had been transformed after receiving surgery. Wonderful work is done there.

On the 19th Cllr Sue Nolan and I met with Rev Springett and Steve Kerr.
Rev Springett is the vicar at Christ Church Wanstead, and Steve Kerr helps to organise the Hainault Evangelical Community Choir.
If you look at my events page you will see that on the 7th December we are to have a celebration of Christmas Music at Christ Church. This should be a lovely evening. Do try to come.

On the 20th Olive and I went to Lloyd Park, Walthamstow with the Redbridge Disabled Women’s Welfare Association to plant the 2nd Peace Tree. The organisation hope to plant one of these in all our local boroughs as a means of encouraging people to live in peace and harmony with each other.
In the evening I had the pleasure of “officially opening” the refurbished track at Cricklefields Athletics Grounds.
It was lovely to see the young people participating in their sport, in spite of the cold, wet weather!
How exciting for all our local athletes that in only a few years the Olympics will be here in London, just a short way away.

On the evening of the 21st Maire and I went to Wanstead High School to watch a production of Hamlet. It was absolutely superb. I thought that it was outstanding. The performers were so good, the costumes and make up quite remarkable in fact. The whole production was so original. Top marks to Mr Whitehead and his staff in the Dance and Drama Department.
One of the things I am passionate about are the performing arts and the value of them to participants and audiences.
Lunchtime on Thursday the 22nd was spent as a guest of JACS at the Wanstead and Woodford Synagogue.
We were made very welcome and I was interested to learn how the organisation runs and how supportive it is to the members. There was excellent entertainment after the lunch by a small group that sung lots of songs from the musicals.
Their secretary is 94 years old, a remarkable lady. She takes the minutes [shorthand] and types and sends them out for the chairman.

In the evening Maire and I went to “Allo Allo” at the KMT.
This was a WOADS production and was hilarious.
IF you watch/ed the TV programme you will know the characters. Well the cast in costume, body language and voice were perfect. Really good replicas of the TV cast.
The audience just laughed all the way through.

Friday the 23d was a very busy day indeed.
It started at Boots Chemist in Barkingside. I officially re-opened the refurbished store.
It has wider aisles now to make it easier for people with wheelchairs or pushchairs.
Really good use of storage space and the whole place much lighter and airier.
The staff made Olive and me very welcome.
After leaving there we went to Bury St Edmonds to support the Freedom Parade of the 1st Anglian Regiment who have just returned from Afganistan.
The regiment recruits from our area and I was proud to show civic support to the brave men from both the Borough and Essex. I was sorry to hear about their casualties, nine dead and of course men with many kinds of injuries.
Unfortunately there seems to be no end in sight.

As soon as I arrived back in Redbridge I went to Hainault and turned the Christmas lights on in Manford Way.
This was a lovely event and pupils from Hainault High School were there singing carols.
There was just enough time to shower and change and go to the Mayor of Barking and Dagenham’s Civic Dinner.
It was a lovely evening.

The next day, Saturday 24th I had a Table Top Sale for my Appeal in the Town Hall.
This was extremely successful and thanks to Doreen Carr who organised it and my wonderful committee members the Appeal made over £700. We are having another one on the 15th December, between 8:30am and 4pm.
You might like to come?

In the evening Olive and I went to the Redbridge Punjabi Centre’s Diwali festival. As always, we were made very welcome and were entertained by some really talented young people.

On Sunday I caught up on paper work! I never manage to keep up to date! Always catching up!
There is a lot of work to do organising Redbridge’s entry to the New Years Day Parade. Have you ever been to watch that? It really is a terrific event.
This year the theme is Celebrating Youth in London.
I cannot go into details re our entry as I don’t want other boroughs to know what we are doing!
I am very lucky Crest Nicholson is sponsoring my entry. We have some great people organising it and I am very grateful for their help.

On the 26th and 27th I had no engagements and was glad of the time to catch up on paper work and my blog.
Wednesday the 28th was an early start!
I went to The Centre for Enterprise and Innovation, a branch of Redbridge College, for a breakfast and networking event.
It was really interesting to meet local business people and to learn about all the facilities for training that are available at The Centre. The food produced by Mike Mulvihill’s staff was, as always, absolutely delicious.
The guest speaker was the entrepreneur Doug Richard. Doug also appears in Dragon’s Den. He was a great speaker. The audience were fascinated by his talk.

The morning of the 29th took Olive and me to Hatton School to look at their new ICT Suite.
It was good to see the children using the computers and watching their positive re-actions to the programmes.
One of the young people took great delight in interviewing me!
In the afternoon Suresh Kumar , his daughter and Cllr Keith Prince came to the Parlour to present a cheque for £3000 for my Appeal. As you can imagine I was delighted to receive such a substantial amount. The money was part of the proceeds from the Redbridge Cultural Association Awards Night. Barbara Hills, Jan Scott and the Mayoress were present. Jan was representing Victim Support Redbridge and Barbara the Hospital Chapel.
Directly after this I met a Chinese delegation. They were in Redbridge to learn about how we organise and run our Education/Children’s Services Departmaent.
Later in the evening Maire, Sue Nolan and I went to the Redbridge Drama Centre to watch a production of Romeo in the City performed by Theatre Centre.
The national tour started at the Drama Centre and the 29th was the final night and it was so right that it finished where it had started.
The play was extremely powerful and dealt with the many issues and problems that our young people face today.
An excellent production, extremely well performed.

The last day of November was the day that Olive and I went to the Barbican for the University of East London’s Business Awards Ceremony. There were 400 students receiving their awards from the Chancellor, Lord Rix.
Three people received Honorary Awards.
Mr Iqbal Wahhab, Mrs Anastasia Shillingford MBE and Mr George Iacobescu CBE.
Three people that have achieved personal success and contributed a great deal to society.
Good role models to aspire to.

How can we be so near the end of the year?
I cannot believe how quickly the months have gone by, particularly the time since I became the Mayor!

If you would like to donate online to my Mayoral Appeal, I’d be happy to receive any donations towards my chosen charities – Ilford Hospital Chapel and Victim Support Redbridge.