Hand in Hand- A poem of hope and freedom.

I am fortunate to be a governor at Sidegate Primary School- and I am pleased to see that they have been researching the connection between Ipswich and the slave abolition movements- I have blogged on a number of occasions about the work of local man - Thomas Clarkson.
12 young Sidegate pupils have worked on a poem to commemorate the life and work of Thomas Clarkson and this was read at the opening of an exhibition at Ipswich Museum. the exhibition is worth visiting as it looks at the life of Clarkson and the effects of the evil slave trade.

Here is the poem:

Hand in Hand

The sun rises on another hopeful day

As we walk down Clarkson Street

West towards the river

Our journey to the future starts today

Today we live Dr King's dream

"Judge me by the content of my character"

We are the future, a future that is free

As we walk to the river

Hand in Hand

The same sun rose on an African plain 250 years ago

Stolen people dragged from their homes

Walk west towards the river

Monster ships carry them beyond the horizon

Sugar, cotton, filthy money

Unheard voices call for freedom

As they walk to the river

Chain by chain

The sun rises on another hopeful day

As we walk down Clarkson Street

West towards the river

Clarkson, Gibbons and Wilberforce

Dr King, Rosa Parks and Nelson Mandela

Showed us the way

I choose freedom, happiness and hope

As we walk to the river

Hand in Hand

By the pupils of Sidegate Primary School, Ipswich

What is also pleasing is the comment received from the museum:

"Thank you again- the children were so beautifully behaved and a real credit to Sidegate Primary School and we hope we can work together in the future"

Remembrance day

I will be attending the service in Christchurch Park, Ipswich in the morning, I thought of attending the Cenotaph service in London and joining the large contingent of ex Green Jackets - but no it will be Ipswich.

Why?

My father attended the service in the park every year, for many of them carrying the Korea Veterans Flag, so I will also be remembering my father.

Ipswich may not be a military town like Colchester but we have always been surrounded by RAF and USAF bases and now we have the Army Air Corps and Royal Engineers living close by, many of whom have now purchased houses in the town and think of Ipswich as their home- many of these have been or will be going back to Iraq and Afghanistan.

It is also even more important this year for the people of Ipswich to remember those who given their lives for their country as we have lost one of our own, Private Aaron McClure, one of nine Royal Anglians who have died with the this year in the Helmund Province.

We should never forget those who served us in both World Wars or in the conflicts since, if you cannot attend a Remembrance service in the morning, just take two minutes at 11 o'clock in the morning to remember those brave men and women who continue to serve this country in places such as Iraq and Afghanistan.

They shall grow not old

As we that are left grow Old

Age shall not weary them

Nor the years condemn

At the going down of the Sun

And in the morning

We will remember them

We will remember them

Lest we forget.

Amen.

Labour ensure democracy is still alive in Ipswich

Labour wins battle for democracy in Ipswich
Ipswich will go to the polls in 2008, after Government Minister John Healey, backed Labour calls for early elections to the new unitary Ipswich Council. The Tories and Liberals who currently run the Council had called for 2008 elections to be scrapped, and elections only to be held in 2009, after the new council had already been running all Ipswich's services for at least a month.Following John Healey's announcement, all 48 members of the new authority - to take power in April 2009 - will be elected in May 2008 and will initially serve a three-year term until May 2011.After then all-out elections will be held every four years on the same day as other districts and boroughs - there will no longer be an election every year in Ipswich.The Labour Group had called for the elections to be held next May, and group leader David Ellesmere is delighted about the decision.David says: “It's the right decision from a democratic point of view, and its an election we are looking forward to. It was always right that there should be an election next May, and I was always confident that the government would back that view.”

Smoked filled Council Chambers?

It was once said that towns were run from smoke filled Council Chambers- or was it smoke filled back rooms in pubs -well here is a picture of Ipswich Borough Council in the early 70's maybe one of the last meetings of the last Ipswich Unitary Authority. Will be interesting to compare it with the first picture of the new Ipswich Unitary authority in May 2008 (or 2009 if those un -democratic Tories and Lib Dems get there way.

Both my mum and dad (Annie and Peter Ross) are in the picture- will I make the picture in 2008?

No democracy in Ipswich?

First of all I will start with a confession! I read the Ipswich Lib Dems website, now I would read the Tory one as well but it only gets updated about once a year!
Now I see on the Lib Dem site they are still criticizing Gordon Brown for not calling an election and some bloke who used to work for them (Ming) is not happy about it- well no surprise there. But what double standards- whilst the Lib Dems (and Cameron and his lot) call Brown a coward for not allowing the British Public the chance to vote, in Ipswich the Tory/Lib Dem coalition want to scrap the elections in the town that are due in 2008. Instead they want to keep the existing administration.
How can this be democracy? Councilors will be deciding how the new Unitary Council for Ipswich will be run even though they have not got an electoral mandate to do so.
The Ipswich Labour Group are lobbying hard that the elections for the shadow authority go ahead as planned in May 2008.
Footnote: Good to see the work on the zebra crossings on Rushmere and Woodbridge Road start, no surprise to see the Tories try and take the credit for it!

Maybe no election but in Ipswich we still campaign!

Gordon may have got "cold feet" but in Ipswich we still carry on campaigning. Yesterday saw a large group of us out canvassing in St John Ward in Ipswich and today we have delivered 1500 leaflets in Rushmere and St Johns.
I for one am glad there is no election as I would have been away for two weeks of the campaign- climbing in the Lake District and then Morocco. It did seem a good idea when we had this 11% lead but not so good this weekend.
Gordon will get a bad press but some good has come out of it. We made the Tories come out with some policy statements- we now know that as well as the NHS, it will be inheritance tax and the pension deficit that will be two of their main campaign points. Of particular interest to me will be their campaign to show them as the true supporter of our Armed Forces, their families and service veterans. They seem to forget it was their party who cut a number of Regiments in 1991 and they drew up the plans to close Military Hospitals.
Another plus out of this election cock up is that Gordon may not be so keen to listen to some of his young guns.
Back to Ipswich and we are campaigning hard on local issues, the Tories and Lib Dems would rather see the Unitary Election put off till 2009 rather than May 2008. It saves them campaigning! May backfire though if Gordon goes for May 2009- oh no have I started an "election in 2009" rumour?
Good news on the campaign front in Ipswich is that after a a large amount of work by local residents and Labour activists, we will eventually see the zebra crossings on both Woodbridge and Rushmere Road. It was a boost to be handing out a leaflet this morning giving good news.

New Jerusalem (inspired by AFC Wimbledon !)

Many politicians with an interest in football will often go on about how football can build bridges- help bring peace- bring communities together and so on. I must admit to being one of those at times. It has been fantastic how the supporters movement in the UK has got it's act together and with the help of a Labour Government through Supporters Direct has began to get the fans voice heard. The success of AFC Wimbledon, FC United (formed by Man Utd supporters not happy with the selling of their club to the American Glazer family) and clubs like York City who who are run now by the supporters are just a few examples here in this country.

Internationally in recent years the image of England supporters has improved, we are no longer seen as a mob of right wing skinheads- this thanks to the work of the Football Supporters Federation and the "Fans Embassies". It is not all good as we still have an element who are just looking for trouble when going abroad.

But football and sport can also divide nations- George Orwell, was one who thought it pushed nations apart rather than built bridges, he was very scathing of football in an essay he wrote about the visit of the Soviet team Dynamo to the UK in 1946. More recently we have seen the "newer" nations like Serbia have a supporter following who just use the support of their national team as a means to push their nationalistic idea's- not only in football we have also seen it in tennis- often it is by migrants in those counties where Serbia are playing rather than those who have travelled from Serbia.

It is not all bad and the Iraq Football team winning the Asia Cup can be looked on as good news story even though a number of Iraqi's were killed whilst celebrating in Baghdad.

Where we have seen football used as a tool of peace and reconciliation is in Israel- after being inspired by AFC Wimbledon and the English supporters movement, a number of fans who were fed up with their club-Hapoel Jerusalem and how it was run tried to buy out the rich owners, they never succeeded so instead have taken over a forth tier Hapoel club and have renamed them Hapoel Katamon (Katamon was the name of Hapoel jerusalem's old ground).

The main club in Jerusalem is Beitar, and they are known as a right wing club, Hapoel means "The Worker" and originally all clubs with the title Hapoel in it were founded by the Labour Party or the trade unions. All are now in private hands. Hapoel will pick Arab-Israeli players as well as Jews and also will sign Muslims from outside Israel. They have recently run a coaching course for 100 children- 50 Israelis- half Arabs, half Jews and 50 Palestinian players. They were coached by coaches from European teams including Fulham.Hopefully Hapoel Katamon will be a football club who help bring communities together.

It is a shame then that a visit to the UK by an Under Palestine team was stopped as they thought a number of the Palestine players may decide to stay here. they did not stop the International Scout jamboree that was held in Chelmsford this Summer and a number of Scouts from all over the world are still here long after the campfire was put out.