Waltham Forest Tamil Sangam Event

I attended a very special event in the Tamil Calendar at Woodford County High School for Girls on Saturday 16th November. This was a cultural evening where performances were given by children and the founder Mr Nava was Honoured. Mr Nava sadly passed away last year but his legacy lives on.

A Visit From The Forest YMCA

On 7 November I received a visit from a group of young people living at Forest YMCA. 

They wanted  to see behind the scenes at the Town Hall. The residents were taken on a tour and given a unique opportunity to see inside the Mayor’s Parlour and the Council Chambers and also observed a meeting in progress.

I answered lots of questions such as how I became a councillor and then mayor and also listened to their issues and concerns.   Also present at the Q&A was the Director of Housing Solutions at Ascham Homes,
Martin Wierzbicki, who answered questions about housing.

Nigerian Independence Celebration - 8 November

I enjoyed joining the Leader, Cllr Robbins for a wonderful evening to celebrate Nigerian Independence Day.  It was a fantastic evening and I would like to thank the members of the Nigerian Community in Waltham Forest (NICOWF), in particular the Chairman Fabian Ukaegbu and the Secretary Debo Adewumi who worked so hard to bring this event together.  We were also joined by John Cryer MP, Cllr Anna Mbachu (the first Nigerian Mayor of Waltham Forest) and a representative from the Nigerian High Commission.

We heard from a wide range of speakers, including Ziggi Golding, who is working with a photographer documenting the royalties and kingdoms of Nigeria, a representative from the

Nigerian Watch newspaper and Mr Ajala Filani who offered a thoughtful assessment of Nigeria’s history and current global position. It was a very interesting evening which we rounded off with fantastic food and an opportunity to network and socialise with our fellow guests.  

Acts of Remembrance

This week I was honoured and privileged to be a part of three very important annual events.

On 8th November I attended the GLA Annual Service of Remembrance of London of the London Assembly at City Hall. This was a London-wide Act of Remembrance at which Assembly Members and other Mayors were present. This was an opportunity for us to pay respects collectively as a group of Mayors before going off to our own borough ceremonies.

On 10 November, I and the Waltham Forest community joined the rest of the nation to pay our respects on Remembrance Sunday. It was both an honour and a great privilege for me to be part of this solemn and most significant Act of Remembrance. The weather was on our side but I am sure that no amount of rain would have stopped people from coming to the Town Hall to show their support. A big thank you to Father Alex Summers of St Michael and All Angels, Walthamstow, for conducting the service. Thank you also to everybody else involved. With a parade of 400 plus, a marching band and a brass ensemble, and representatives of organisations and groups from all over the borough, the event took a huge amount of work and organisation.



Priory Court Community Get Together Day

I went along to Priory Court to see the results of a whole raft of community activities that residents had been involved in.  They had all worked incredibly hard and had clearly had fun at the same time.                                                                                       

TheCommunity Clear-up team, who removed rubbish from bushes and pathways near to the community centre.

Wth the “Bike works. Org” engineer. Members of the community were able to bring their bikes to the Community centre where the bikes were given a free bike “MOT”. Tyres, gears and brakes were tested.

  

 A local factory buys plywood sheets and makes stencils from them by cutting out circular discs. These discs in the past were then scrapped and dumped in land fill sites.  A novel method of Re-cycling has been found to re-use the previously unwanted discs. The discs are placed on to a turn table which rotates using pedal power.  Paint is added and the results...

...decorate the outside of the Community Games area!

 

Making bread rolls to go with pumpkin soup.  Carefully rolling and cutting...



...so they look like this.

Finally, a visit to the 'Honesty' Library, - the idea of local resident Lily Evans.

What a great day out.  Well done on all your hard word.

Remember, Remember the 5th of November

Tuesday 5 November was a very memorable day. During the afternoon, I was present at the launch of University Square, Stratford, an impressive and unique partnership between Birkbeck, University of London and the University of East London. The idea is that this £33m. state-of-the-art facility will give students access to a wide range of courses, help them gain university qualifications and enhance their future prospects. HRH The Princess Royal was on hand to perform the official opening and I look forward to hearing about students from Waltham Forest benefiting from this great new centre of learning.

Back at the Town Hall I was delighted to welcome my councillor colleague Darshan Sunger, along with Pawandeep and Kiran Sunger, into the Parlour to mark Diwali, before joining 20,000 residents to watch the Council firework display. What a fantastic show, with music, lasers and fireworks all combining brilliantly to give the huge crowd a thrilling evening – and we even managed to avoid the rain. I hope everyone who attended enjoyed themselves as much as I did.

Norlington School Awards

Norlington Schools held its fourth celebration event at Waltham Forest town hall on 3^rd October.  I was very pleased to attend and to hand out much deserved awards to students.  Not only did the event recognise the outstanding successes of the school in the previous year but it reaffirms the aspirations of the school for the future.  Thank you not only to Juan Hernandez, Head teacher, for making the evening such a memorable one, but also to the proud parents and carers.