St Patrick's Day Festival

We have been asked and are proud to advertise the St Patrick's Day parade on 16th March 2008 at Trafalgar Sq, Leicester Sq and Covent Garden. A full of list of details can be found at http://www.london.gov.uk/stpatricksday/.

The event consists of a parade and a festival. The Parade will see marching bands from Ireland and the UK, community groups, sports cubs, schools and street theatre take to the streets of central London for a fun filled family spectacle. The festival will include Irish food, culture, dancing, music (a number of music stages) and much much more.

The Parade starts at 12noon from Hyde Park Corner so get to your chosen viewing spot with time to spare.

Working for you

A picture of Wilson Chowdhry (with his daughter) giving up some time on his weekend to get hands on and tackle graffiti in Chadwell Heath.

Tories to cut Redbridge's Voluntary groups funding

Conservative controlled Redbridge Council have agreed to cut £32,000 to voluntary services. Labour opposition Councillors fought to have this thrown out.

Labour Cllr Julia Hughes said that the increase last year in the criteria for social care meant that more people now needed help from voluntary groups, and that there was no indication where the new cut would fall. She said, "Will it be the faith groups, the elderly, children and adults with disabilities, the mentally ill? I'm concerned about how transparent that choice will be."

Conservative Cabinet member John Fairley Churchill defended his decision "Some of the groups in this borough thought it was their God-given right to be funded each year." He went on "The idea of voluntary sector organisations in splendid isolation harks back to the days of gentility when my grandmother was a girl. We want to encourage cross-borough working."

Labour believes in voluntary groups. We think they create a cohesive community. Not only do the recipients of voluntary groups benefit, but also the volunteers themselves; they become involved in a local community and feel empowered. There are many areas that the state are not involved in or are "unsexy", these are the vital areas that voluntary groups often work in.

Savings could have been found, for example:-

- NOT wasting your council tax on Redbridge-i website

- NOT wasting 110k of your council tax on 2 flash Jaguar limos

- NOT wasting your council tax on Redbridge Life

- BY cutting Cabinet Cllrs allowances / salaries

WE SAY: This story is linked to the continued Tory mis-management of this borough - from allotment sales, car parks, elderly centres, pay and display parking, internal rifts between Tory Cllrs who want to do the right thing etc.

Latest Labour Newsletter

The latest Chadwell Labour newsletters are now being delivered, look out for your copy! The delivery of these newsletters would not be possible without the kind assistance of our ever growing team of local volunteers. If you would like to get involved, please email or call us. Working together we can create a better Chadwell.