Monday 31 October 6pm - Labour Group meeting
Tuesday 1 November 9am - Communities supporting our Armed Forces … our Armed Forces supporting their communities - conference in London
Saturday 5 November 10.30am - Campaigning in East Ipswich
Sunday 6 November 7pm - Labour Bonfire Night - Fund raiser
This week has seen further campaigning in St Margaret's, seen the occasional Tory out delivering leaflets but the Lib Dems seem to have given up or are very confident.
On Thursday I attended a meeting of the licensing committee at Ipswich Borough Council, one of our more important meetings this year as it gave us an opportunity to discuss the new Governments proposals for licensing (in short, it looks like it will be self regulation and only one of the committee thought this was an improvement on current legislation)
As it was such an important meeting it was very disappointing that 3 Tory councillors failed to turn up and did not even send in their apologies, now they are not in power seems that some of the Ipswich Tories have lost interest in attending meetings (and representing their constituents).
I was in London on Saturday so missed the Jools Holland concert at the Regent. Not only was it disappointing to miss Jools but this was the event where we launched Ipswich Borough Council's partnership with 'Tickets for Troops'. This will enable members of our Armed Forces to enjoy free tickets for events at the Regent and the Corn Exchange. A number of soldiers and their partners from the Army Air Corps at Wattisham were the first recipients of tickets from this scheme.
Showing posts with label Tickets for Troops. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Tickets for Troops. Show all posts
Sunday, 30 October 2011
Wednesday, 29 June 2011
Ipswich supports our Armed Forces
Monday night (27th June 2011) was a good day for politics in Ipswich. The Tory group on Ipswich Borough Council had put forward a proposal that if passed would have allowed members of our Armed Forces who live in the Borough free entry to Borough owned sports facilities such as Crown Pools and also free entry to events held at 'The Regent' and the 'Corn Exchange'.
The ruling Labour group put forward an amendment that I was proud to second, our amendment was to remove the original target date of August 1st. This was not done out of spite, this was so that we could make sure that when the scheme is implemented, we would have ensured that serving members of our Armed Forces living in the town would have received their free i-card and were aware of the benefits that ownership of that card entitled them to.
Though it would be great to offer free 'Regent' tickets to all our Armed Forces living in the town this would have been hard to implement, we are looking at joining in with the military charity - 'Tickets for Troops', by working with them it would not only enable soldiers who are resident in the town to apply for free tickets but also those who call Ipswich their home but are based in other parts of the UK or even abroad.
This seems to be the way ahead, and after this was mentioned in the 'Evening Star' on Tuesday, I have already had a mother of a local soldier approach me and tell me how excited he was that he would now be able to use the Borough owned gyms in the town.
Many councils and private firms have offered troops similar benefits but I aim to use my links with the military community to help Council Officers introduce a scheme that will see the soldiers and their families use our swimming pools and gyms and that members of our forces come to Ipswich to watch shows both at the ‘Regent’ or the ‘Corn Exchange’.
Why was it good for politics in Ipswich? The amendment was voted through unanimously and with an obvious desire on all three sides to make it work.
The ruling Labour group put forward an amendment that I was proud to second, our amendment was to remove the original target date of August 1st. This was not done out of spite, this was so that we could make sure that when the scheme is implemented, we would have ensured that serving members of our Armed Forces living in the town would have received their free i-card and were aware of the benefits that ownership of that card entitled them to.
Though it would be great to offer free 'Regent' tickets to all our Armed Forces living in the town this would have been hard to implement, we are looking at joining in with the military charity - 'Tickets for Troops', by working with them it would not only enable soldiers who are resident in the town to apply for free tickets but also those who call Ipswich their home but are based in other parts of the UK or even abroad.
This seems to be the way ahead, and after this was mentioned in the 'Evening Star' on Tuesday, I have already had a mother of a local soldier approach me and tell me how excited he was that he would now be able to use the Borough owned gyms in the town.
Many councils and private firms have offered troops similar benefits but I aim to use my links with the military community to help Council Officers introduce a scheme that will see the soldiers and their families use our swimming pools and gyms and that members of our forces come to Ipswich to watch shows both at the ‘Regent’ or the ‘Corn Exchange’.
Why was it good for politics in Ipswich? The amendment was voted through unanimously and with an obvious desire on all three sides to make it work.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)