East Reading Festival and Sun Burn

I wish I had a hat....just spent a very very warm afternoon, campaigning on behalf of public sector workers at the East Reading festival..very enjoyable.

We were also asking residents to sign a petition on HMO's it was great to talk to residents about their concerns and work with all the Labour volunteers to make sure we spoke to as many people as possible.

The picture show me with Labour activists at the festival.

We have a big programme of campaigns ahead so you will see us out and about. Come and say hello, we might even give you a badge.

We also met up with the organisers of the Freegle group and promised to put a link to their site so here it is.

Writing a Consitution

I now have an incling of how the Founding Father's of the US felt....Ok a little exagerated perhaps but stick with me.

I with a number of other Parent Governors at Alfred Sutton have been asked to establish a Parents' Forum to assist the Governoring body. It will be a consultee of the Governors and also be a place where Parents can discuss with the Governors issues that concern them.

I am very keen that parents are able to find a voice in the school and am working hard with a number of parents and governors to develop this.

We have already held our first meeting where parents were able to talk about the issues that worried them and also to decide whether they wanted to have a Forum in the first place. We were able to take those issues to the school and I am pleased to say got some very positive answers back. The parents also decided that the Forum was a good idea and that we should go ahead and organise it.

Yesterday we took our first step in formalising the group by writing a Consititution, or perhaps more realistically a charter for the group. Although it only runs to a page and a bit it was good to see everyone working together to make the Forum work and understand the commitment needed to run it.

I hope we will be able to present the Charter at our next meeting, which is Tuesday 6th at 19.30. If you are a parent of a child at Alfred Sutton, come along we will be giving feedback on the issues raised at the last meeting.

For those of you with an interest in such things here is a link to the US constitution there are some intor notes but the constitution starts on page 21 of the document. For really constitution spotters here is a link to the German Grundgestezt, which is the current German constitution. For reall constitution spotters there is a prize for those that can tell me why the German's have a Basic Law rather than a constitution.

Lollipops are lovely

Have had my first day back lollipoping, really enjoyed it. I have actually missed the interaction with parents and their children in the morning.

5 weeks has been a long time not to do something you enjoy and especially as in the last few weeks my foot felt ok as long as I didn't stress it too much.

I was taken aback at how many people were kind enough to say they were pleased that I was back looking after the crossing and the sun even shined.

I also understand that another Parent has offered to do some of the afternoon slot as 4 out of 5 slots haven't been covered, so even more good news. He is meeting me on Wednesday for some training so he can see what the mornings are like. I hope he enjoys it.

So all in all a good day,

Shooting at Grange Ave.

I am sad to say that the spectre of gun crime has again come to Park Ward.

At about 11.30 last night( Sunday) an arguement took place outside of the on of the Take Aways and a shot was fired. As far as I could find out there were no fatalities.

I was working outside Alfred Sutton this morning, and came across this scene. Fortunately as I was on the spot I was able to reassure passers by about the general safety of the area and that this appears to have been a one off incident. Nevertheless it is very concerning and I will be writing to the Council and also to the Police to ask them to step up police and PCSO patrols in the area. As a member of the local Police/Residents' liaison committee I know that the Police are working hard in the area, but as a father of 2 teenage children I want to make sure that they are doing everything in their power to make sure that the area is safe.

I will be working, with my Labour colleagues, to make sure that nothing like this happens again.