Petition to council about South Whitley shops

Over the last couple of weeks I've been helping a resident from The Maying collect signetures for a petition that we are submitting to the council cabinet on Monday. The wording of the petition is:


"We the undersigned are very concerned about safety in the shops area around the corner of Northumberland Avenue (opposite the bus terminus) and round into Whitley Wood Road. Cars and vans drive and park on the forecourt, pavement and prohibited areas of the road. This is particularly dangerous for children, especially around school start and finish times, elderly people and people with a disability. We call on Reading Borough Council and the neighbourhood police team to take appropriate action, and to work together to deal with this problem in order to make the area and route to school safe for pedestrians.?


At the last count there were nearly 300 signetures. Hopefully there will be a positive response from from the council cabinet on Monday.

This week - talking to people!

I don't normally post about going out and about talking to people on their doorsteps but to me that's the only way you can know enough to be a good local representative. It's also something that I enjoy!

As a sample I thought I would list what I've done this week. I have helped collect signatures for a petition that a caring Mum on the Swallowfield Drive estate is putting together, door knocked on Callington Road to ask residents about their concerns, attended a councillor's surgery with Cllrs Mike Orton and Jim Hanley in Kennet Island and visited a number of people with Cllr Mike Orton to follow up on their responses to our latest survey.

Not part of my campaign but I also had a school governor's meeting and went to a parents evening at my local school.

Obviously this does have to fit in with my full time job and it's not all work and no play: I had time for a pie in the Nags Head, followed by a pint in the Hobgoblin last night! Steak and stilton is definitely the king of pies...

Griffin: nothing to offer!

Sounds like we didn't need to worry that Nick Griffin would look good on question time.  I didn't stay up for it, and the only reason I would have done is if I wanted to hear what the BNP were all about or if I felt like car crash TV.
I think any party that excludes people from membership based on what one of their councillors call 'the look-test' isn't one I personally need to know any more about, but hopefully the 8m people who tuned in had a similar reaction to the press.

I think I was right that the BNP has nothing to say in Reading - and this article (based on such low numbers to start with!) suggests the same.

Hope not hatred

I've just got home from a parent's evening at the primary school that I am a governor for.  I was giving out teas and coffees to parents and chatted with them, the children and the teachers.  I came home to the news being dominated by the appearance of Nick Griffin on Question Time.

But thinking about 'my' school's atmosphere helped me to feel hope amid all the anger that is flying around.

The school I am governor for has at least 29 languages spoken in the homes of the children from all over the world - Polish, Swahili, German, Russian, Punjabi, Khosa, Creole... the list goes on!   Does it lead to a fractured school?  No - quite the opposite in fact, the school was praised by it's most recent Ofsted for its positive ethos, and a 'happy and inclusive atmosphere that is conducive to learning'.  The diversity of the cultural backgrounds is celebrated and the children learn from each other about their backgrounds.  Does this make the school less British?  Also No!  As the display up in the main hall called "The world in our school" says "The language we all share is English" and "We all live in Reading".


I have a message for Nick Griffin:

Reading doesn't need your bile, your comparison of our military to war criminals, your denial of climate change and our children are too busy playing and learning together to have time for your racism.

Accessible cycling

Just wanted to give a quick plug to this.  If you or someone you know would enjoy the opportunity to take part in accessible cycling, the majority of participants are disabled children, then get in touch with Helen - she's a very friendly, welcoming person and loves giving people the chance to cycle!

Pleural Plaques

I signed up to the "Justice for Pleural Plaques' campaign through my union (GMB) a while back and it is really making some headway.
They are now asking people to send a message to Alisdair Darling and Peter Mandelson.

The campaign is really about one of the reasons I joined Labour and one of the reasons I am in a union: it's about giving ordinary people a fair hearing. The compensation claims in question are generally a few thousand pounds - but that's enough to make a significant difference to the lives of people living in fear because they have permanent scarring of their lungs.

This is a very personal account of it.

Madjeski part of £100m investment in school improvements

Press release from Reading labour party. I'm a school governor at a primary school so this is close to my heart.

Labour: “We have invested over £100M in Reading’s schools”

Since Reading took education from Berkshire in 1998, Labour has invested over £100M in new schools – the John Madejski Academy, the Avenue Special School, George Palmer Primary School and Norcot Nursery – and in new classrooms and other major building works at over forty schools across the Borough.
Lead Councillor for Education Jon Hartley listed the schemes in answer to a question from Katesgrove Labour candidate Matt Rodda at the Council meeting on 13 October.
Cllr. Hartley says: “The nation’s schools were neglected under the Tories and making up for that neglect has been one of the key priorities of this Labour Government. Taking just major schemes costing £25,000+, Labour in Reading over the last eleven years has spent more than £105 Million – which is probably more than ten times what was spent in the eighteen wasted years under the Tories!
“I think children learn better, and teachers teach better, when they feel valued and not neglected,” he adds, “and have no doubt that the greatly improved results at SATS, GCSE and A-level are of course down to the hard work of staff and pupils, but that has been helped by the strides we have made towards making our school buildings fit for the 21st century!”
Matt Rodda, an educationist himself, adds: “I knew a lot had been done, but I was bowled over by the sheer scale of these improvements. Four brand new schools, new facilities for early years, new classrooms at many schools, the new hall at Highdown, the new sixth form block at Kendrick, the new dining hall at Whitley Park Junior school, replacement windows, disabled access : education, education, education in practice.”

Libraries... my favourite places

I love libraries. They must be one of the best institutions ever.

At the weekend I went to pick up - for free - an OWL, which is an electricity monitor that I can borrow for 3 weeks to see how much electricity different things in our house are using. I'm not very bothered by this, as I think we should turn things off no matter what. However it appeals to Joe's gadget loving side and since we can borrow it rather than needing to shell out for it why not?

Oh and they do books as well. Yes, libraries are brilliant.
I would say that Reading libraries are amoungst the best I've come across: free reservations, 3 week borrowing, freindly staff, borrow and return your books to any library in town and long opening hours.

Plus we get the best catch phrase: "Reading loves reading"!

Harris Garden open day

Went out knocking on doors to introduce our parliamentary candidate this morning and got quite wet, then went out this afternoon to the Harris Garden open day and got very wet!

It dried up enough later for some nice pictures though.  This one was a bit silly but we liked it.

Bought some nice plants and the whole thing was for a good cause – the Duchess of Kent Hospice does a lot of great work, my family has experience of that.

University cuts PCSO funding

The University of Reading is cutting the funding it currently provides to support four Police Community Support Officers (PCSOs) that cover the University area.
This will affect permanent residents as well as students

In particular it could set back progress that the PCSOs, local community and students have managed to achieve, particularly in the area of combatting anti-social behaviour.

Please sign Anneliese Dodd's petition to prevent this and keep the University area PCSOs.

Mini motorcycles

Noise and danger from mini motorcycles have been an on-going problem in parts of Whitley. We asked the police to take action.

In September this led to six riders having warnings and one cycle being confiscated altogether.

If you live in Whitley, get in touch straight away if you have a problem on your road and we will work to tackle this.

Mums matter!

I've signed up to this. I recently became an aunty for the second time and it brings home to me how helpless a child is if their Mum dies in child birth, not to mention how terrible it is for the woman...

Anyone who cares about women's rights should care about deaths of women in childbirth, no matter what country they are from!

Giving blood

My blood wasn't fast enough to pump out when I went to give blood last week.  Although I still have an impressive bruise from the attempt.

However as a consolation prize I've made sure that my details are registered as an organ donor.  I'm not sure if I was already registered, but better safe than sorry, and it's now really easy to do.

National carbon footprint day

Today is national carbon footprint day.  The idea is that once a year you take meter readings of various things: Electricity, Gas, water, Milometer on your car (easy one that for me!) and flights over last year (again easy for me) and then the following year you update it.  It makes it easy to see what progress you are making.  I'm going to do my readings tonight ready for next year - it'll help me to assess how I'm doing with the 10:10 target!