Category: Campaigns

Save the Beaumont Sweet Shop!

Prem Maisuria handing me his petition

Over the past couple of months, I have been involved in the local campaign to help the confectioners run by Mr and Mrs Maisuria on the Beaumont Estate. Readers who’ve visited this site before, will remember the opening of the shop in April, which was attended by local MP, Harry Cohen and I.

Unfortunately, barely three months after that lovely day, Mr Maisuira’s business is being threatened with closure because of building work going on the Beaumont Estate, to give the area a much needed and welcome face lift. Access to the shop has been blocked off since early July and Mr and Mrs Maisuria are losing worrying amounts of takings Continue reading “Save the Beaumont Sweet Shop!”

The BRATSS go to Parliament!

Watch out parliament, we're coming!
Watch out Parliament, the BRATSS are coming!

This morning, I took a group of forty mums and kids from the Beaumont Estate, the majority of whom are active in the Beaumont Residents And Tenants Summer Scheme (BRATSS), to Parliament.

Apart from giving them the opportunity to have a nice day out, I also wanted to help them build their political confidence and go home feeling that Parliament really does belong to them. These families have a right to be heard re their summer scheme and all other important matters affecting them Continue reading “The BRATSS go to Parliament!”

Operation Black Vote!

With newly registered Agnes Mensah and her son

Waltham Forest’s MPs, councillors and local campaigners were out in force on Saturday asking local residents from the Black and Minority Ethnic communities to register to vote. Only one third of Londoners of African origin is on the electoral register, meaning that thousands of them may miss out on their chance to vote in May’s local elections. Operation Black Vote campaigners and a multitude of local campaigners and volunteers, were joined by MPs Neil Gerrard and Harry Cohen, Greater London Assembly Member Jennette Arnold, and local councillors.

I organised the drive as part of the ‘5 Million Strong’ campaign, which aims to register 5 million ethnic minority Londoners by the deadline of March the 13th. I am delighted that Operation Black Vote came to my borough. Continue reading “Operation Black Vote!”

Save the Beaumont Summer Scheme!

Harry Cohen MP with the BRATSS Committee

A group of mums living on the Beaumont Estate, Leyton, has formed a new group to save their children’s summer scheme. The Beaumont Residents And Tenants Summer Scheme’s (BRATSS) inaugural meeting was attended by Leyton MP, Harry Cohen, who pledged to assist the mums with their fight. Continue reading “Save the Beaumont Summer Scheme!”

George Mitchell says Lives not Knives

George Mitchell School Talk - 'Lives not Knives'The borough’s ‘Lives not Knives’ campaign took a step into the classroom in November. 14, 15 and 16-year-old pupils from George Mitchell school, where I am a governor, received a talk from the borough’s Superintendent Stewart Rivers, and the council’s violent crimes officer, Mike Jervis, on the dangers involved in carrying knives.

The teenagers were told that 13% of kids living in Waltham Forest now carry knives but that if caught, offenders face a stiff five-year jail sentence and other harsh punishments. The students also learned that the British Transport Police is about to begin conducting regular knife searches on the buses.
Continue reading “George Mitchell says Lives not Knives”