1 Year Anniversary of the Chiswick Flower Market
Last weekend I attended the one-year anniversary of the Chiswick Flower Market. It was a sweet moment to be able to celebrate with so many fellow volunteer marshals and all the organisers that have worked so hard behind the scenes well beyond just the last 12 months. A special mention to Ollie Saunders for his leadership in putting together a great team that included Karen Liebreich (Abundance London), Amanda Parker, Victoria Bailey-King, and Bridget Osborne (Chiswick Calendar Editor), who have all worked tirelessly to keep the show on the road.
Commercial and residential estate agents Whitman and Co have also been instrumental in managing a creche for purchases and working alongside Hounslow’s own Dr Bike and a team of willing peddlers who delivered bulk purchases directly to the doors of the customer. If that’s not customer service, then I don’t know what is.
This initiative has been one of Chiswick biggest success stories over these past twelve months. It has brought people back to the High Road and the resulting footfall can only be good for trade. I congratulate the organisers, volunteers and fellow Marshalls including Cllr Ranjit Gill for their hard work. Long may the market continue.
A trip to No. 10 Downing Street
This week I had the pleasure of being invited to Downing Street for a one-to-one meeting with the of the senior advisor on race and inequalities. We discussed, among many things, the report by the Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities. It something that we are very familiar with as Conservative Councillors. We had four meetings to discuss the findings of the report and will be taking forward some of the recommendations through to our 2022 manifesto. I am delighted with the way my Conservative Councillor colleagues have responded to this and I hope we can secure the mandate in the May 2022 Local Elections so that we can real action. It is about we put a stop to gesture politics and virtue signalling that we often see with current Labour administration at Hounslow Council.
Waterworks Festival vows to support Hogarth Youth Centre with a music workshop.
Some of you may be aware of several events that take place in Gunnersbury Park each year including concerts, secret cinema and music festivals. Often the money raised for hosting these events is filtered back to supporting the park and all its wonderful facilities. This month percolatemusic will be bring the Waterworks music festival. Unfortunately for all of us, tickets sold out in less than 24hrs. However, the organisers were very keen to support some of our community projects in return for the good faith shown by local stakeholders in allowing the festival to go ahead. In a statement they said:
As a business and as individuals we feel strongly that we must do our part to combat social inequality, and this will be a driving factor in the initiatives we involve ourselves in over the years.
It's important to note that it will take us time to understand how we can contribute, whilst we are already making some inroads locally we are very much here to learn and listen and are open to ideas and suggestions wherever they may come from within the community.
We aren't a massive organisation with access to vast resources, so it is important to us to make sure that what we contribute is done so in the most effective ways possible.
Anyone can feel free to contact us any time in this regard at [email protected]
Our first initiative will launch on the 22nd of September and is a collaboration with our media partner Resident Advisor at the Hogarth Youth Centre and is aimed at introducing young adults to the basics of DJing, it will be led by international DJ Ben UFO who is also playing at the festival on the 25th of September. (End Quote)
LTN: We seek to listen to and work with resident; they seek to disrupt and divide our community.
LTN issues continue to dominate our inboxes as well as the Chiswick W4 Forum. The lack of response and action from this council administration is telling. The council’s recent stealth announcements on the LTN and the silence from the Cabinet Member or any member of the administration should serve as warning to anyone that believes in big government. Therefore, we Conservatives are generally suspicious of the ‘big state’. If groups like these, running the council at Hounslow, are left unchecked and unchallenged at the ballot box for all these years, the end result is something akin to tyranny. This administration has become a lethargic, self-serving, leviathan entity of the highest order. We need an administration that is energetic, proactive and consultative in its approach to addressing people’s priorities. An administration that has the honour of representing Chiswick residents shouldn’t simply exist to chance the next available funding pot from London Mayor’s office. It should be independent and attentive to the needs of the residents it was elected to serve. It should be honest, accountable and above all, unafraid of scrutiny.
The truth about your E-voucher.
You may have opened your mail recently and found that the Leader of the Council is handing out £20 to every household. I am supportive of helping our local economy but the right thing to do would be to explain that this money is a result of an unspent surplus that was given to the Council by Central Government. But due to the ineffectiveness of the administration, some businesses were not able receive support from the Covid-19 grants and funds supplied by the Government. Instead of working with our local businesses to support them as they recover from the effects of the pandemic, the administration is using the unspent £2.3 million (approximate) to seemingly bolster their prospects at the next election. If this happened in my native Uganda, the press would say the leader is buying votes.
Important upcoming date:
Chiswick Area Forum – Tuesday 14 September, 7pm, at Chiswick Town Hall. Contact Committee Officer Chaspal Sandhu to book your place: [email protected]
