Another interesting day yesterday. During the morning it was business as usual, Keith and Ken Wood were out leafleting and getting a petition signed then in the afternoon we went to Villa Park for an awards presentation put on by the Rover Community Action Trust. This was set up after the collapse of MG/Rover by Gemma Cartwright with Government money. Gemma has worked her socks off since then and this was an event to acknowledge the work that a lot of organisations have contributed. The photos show Gemma receiving a gift from the Lord Mayor and Keith Receiving an award on behalf of South West Birmingham Community Association. There was also the unveiling of a new bus that Rcat have purchased for use in the community. While we were at Villa Park Sue could not resist posing with her hero, Gareth Barry.
A funny thing happened before we got to the event, we went into the Holte Suite by mistake. There was a big "Mega-Mela" show going on with a lot of the employment agencies there a crowds of people. We had a look round and met Cllr Tanveer Choudry who was there with his lads. Whilst we were walking around 3 young men entered through a fire exit, suddenly another young man ran up and punched one of them, some more lads piled in and it turned into Mega-Melee. Security forced them outside but streams of youths continued to join in. Eventually it calmed down and the fire exit was shut. We tried to leave by the front entrance but there was a large crowd outside trying to force their way back in and Security locked the doors. We eventually got out by a side door and found our way to the Trinity Suite. The Lord Mayor was only allowed in on sufferance as he is a well known Bluenose but he and Sandra really enjoyed themselves.
