Sunday 26 September 2010

Congratulations Mr Miliband

The title of this post would of course be suitable whichever brother won. Ed Miliband is at pains to point out that he is not a left wing throwback but wants to appeal to Middle England. If that is correct then the question has to be asked "why did the unions get behind him so strongly?" After all if they had wanted a centrist Leader why did they not back his elder brother who had the support of the majority of MPs and activists? All very mysterious, you might wonder what the unions will do when they find out that they have not got Red Ed but somehow we think they know exactly what they have bought and paid for.

Welcome to politics

Our local socialist seems to have thrown his toys out of his pram.
He got upset that at the Constituency Committee political points were raised by ourselves in response to attacks from the opposition. It seems strange that the Labour group are able to make direct attacks on our decisions and policies but when we respond by reminders of their legacy of a debt mountain we are deemed as making political statements. Of course it has always been the leftist way to attack anyone who disagrees with them and, as usual, revert to name calling.
We are not one big happy family, we are political opponents intent on winning or maintaining power and it is a very strange politician who does not recognise this.

Saturday 25 September 2010

Monday 20 September 2010

Papal visit to Cofton Park.

Although the day started very early and wet it brightened up later and the sun came out as the Pope's helicopter touched down. Make of that what you will.
The coaches were streaming past before 4.00am and changing gear to get up the hill right outside Keith & Sue's house on Groveley Lane.
We were all at Wythall by 5.30am for identity checking and then boarded a coach for Cofton Park.
Instead of a commentary we have loads of photos and will try to upload videos for you to see.
A truly wonderful day for the city, for Longbridge and for Rednal.
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Sunday 12 September 2010

Opening of Edgewood Hall

Recently we saw the re-opening of Edgewood Hall in Rednal.
This was a facility that served a lot of people in the area but after the old committee disbanded we have made various efforts to keep it open but finally the decision was made to close it as it was costing Northfield Constituency £5000 pa.
Here in Longbridge we have been trying to find someone to take over and finally settled on an organisation called BLISS (Better Life Inspiration Support Services) who work with young people to help them into work. They are pledged to help other organisations to make full use of the hall and bring  this much loved building back into public use.
Keith was delighted to be asked to perform the opening ceremony and did so with an, as usual, short speech.

Sue & Ken with stage and choir stalls in the background

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The stage

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A very wet day.

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Ken & Sue with Cliff the Site Manager for WRG.

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Keith behind the stage area

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Second week

That was after the first week, now for some photos of last weekend.

The canteen

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turning area

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the road way to the stage area

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Friday 10 September 2010

We're back!

It's been a few months since our last posting but we think it is now time to start up again and let you know what's been happening.
Sadly Sue lost her seat in May, this being due to the increased turnout for the GE. Although we lost Longbridge at the GE by approx !000 votes Sue only lost by 117, a built in majority of nearly 900. In other words, if there had been no GE Sue would have walked it. Sue has received a tremendous amount of calls and e-mails from people expressing their disappointment at the result and she has been very grateful for them all but as you will see it's "never say die".
Since then Sue has undergone her postponed Hip-replacement and has recovered well, so well in fact that she has become a Parish Councillor in Frankley to replace the veteran Sid Grey OBE who gave such massive service to the people of Frankley. He will be a giant act to follow.
The big news of course is the Papal visit to Cofton Park. As soon as Keith heard the news that the Coventry site was in site he started ringing everyone he could think of to lobby for the park with it's connection to Cardinal Newman, not that he is claiming any credit of course. The park was the logical replacement.
We have made a couple of visits to see the construction project and very impressive it is too. On the first Saturday we went they had started to put down aluminium roadways for all the vehicle movements needed and had installed the shell of the canteen. They will be feeding approx 200 people at the height of the work and apparently the food is excellent.
On our second visit a week later the stage and the 2 stands for the 2000 strong choir were in place and roadways had been laid for vehicles to carry equipment all over the park. The beauty of the roadway is that it will support the heaviest trucks without damaging the ground. After it is taken up the grass greens up after a short while. Any damage that is caused will be indemnified by the Catholic Church. More as it gets nearer the visit. We will put up some photos for you to look at.
Keith has been quite busy with the visit, he is the local lead on this and was interviewed by BBC Midlands Today and also did a telephone interview with Shine Radio. The BBC interview took about 3/4 of an hour of film  for about 15seconds of broadcasting. So much for Andy Warhol.......