A Weekend With Communities

Strange weekend, Royal Wedding on Friday, I didn't have an invite and Vaisakhi on Sunday with campaigning and a visit to my own church, Wycliffe, in between.

We are continuing door knocking and are still meeting people who want to vote Labour. It is great to see voters decide that they want a Council that really looks after its residents and that listens to its residents concerns.

Sunday started off with a visit to Wycliffe's early service at 9 O'Clock in the morning. It is a traditional service rather than the normal Wycliffe service. After the service I whipped across Cumberland Road to the Gudwara to take part in the Sikh Community's Vaisakhi celebrations. This is usually a colourful and interesting event. The procession goes up the Wokingham Road, along Church Road, Pitts Lane and back down the A4 to Cumberland Road.

The rest of the day was spent talking to residents in the Ward. This is something I really enjoy, I love listening to residents concerns and trying to help them get the services they need. The campaign continues and am looking forward to Thursday.

So that you can see the pictures I took of the event I have put a link to my Flickr feed of the day.

Reproach to racists- Another Indulgent Article

Time for another self indulgent article. It is Palm Sunday today and I actually managed to make it to Church today.

While sitting in church it struck me what the Kingdom of Heaven might be, what living in Park is like and why I like living in Park. Looking around church there were a mixture of Brits, Germans, Dutch, Chinese, Indian, Pakistani, Brazilian, Ghanaian, South African, Japanese and people from all over the world worshiping together. When the palm crosses were handed out we all went up together to pick some up and hand them to the congregation. It was very moving to see hands of every colour working together. The message of Palm Sunday was about Jesus' preparations before Crucifixion and his eventual return as Lord of all. If you want to hear the sermon click here.

Just as church ended I had to nip around the corner to the Gudwara to a meeting there. Now this was another eye opening experience, members of the Sikh community meeting according to their traditions. People wanted. Their hospitality is faultless, and you will always get something to eat there. I can recommend it. The Sikh community has been there since the 70's and they are at home.

So the reproach is, a multi cultural Reading is a great place and a strong place to live. All the communities have their own particular issues, but together they make the town a richer place, a more interesting place and a more tolerant place. One where I can where my Palm Cross in the street and Sikh community can hold their festivals. Reading is a town that thrives in its diversity and would be restricted by cultural uniformity.

Learn to Cross Your Legs Properly

No photo today. Sorry. This week has been very very encouraging. I have had a couple of people stop me in the street to talk to me about the campaign-this is just what we should be seeing at this point in the campaign.

This week saw us doing our traditional knocking on people's doors.I have always thought that the UK is a great country where you can knock on someone's door and ask them who they are going to vote for. I have only hardly ever had a few people slam the door on me. It was very nice canvassing on Thursday as I got invited in for a glass of wine. The resident is a friend of mine, who I had decided not to knock on her door as it is a bit nervy making asking friends for their voting intention. Not only did I get a glass of wine she said that she would vote for me, as would her family. Nice one.

So where do the knees come in to it. Oh yes I was at the Gudwara meeting residents from the Indian community. I had to sit down with the worshipers and I had been told to cross my legs. Easy enough you might think. But my leg has been quite sore after the Op. Not sure why it has been fine for the last 2 weeks but it has been sorer than a very sore thing. So I sat down but couldn't cross my legs properly for the lie of me. It was like something on a black and white film every time I pushed one leg down to cross them the other one popped up.

The members of the Gudwara were very forgiving and I had some very useful discussions with the members so it was a useful afternoon all round.

So only 2 and a bit weeks to go before the election. Can't wait.