Friday, 27 November, 2009
 | Friday, 27th November 2009 |
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As much of my own constituency is rural, I enjoyed meeting with the Chief Executive and Directors of the Woodland Trust just outside Kidlington on Friday. After a walk through mature woodland, I saw the new planting they have undertaken and discussed with them how we can protect and sustain our threatened woodland and countryside.
I then visited Combe CE Primary School, which was placed joint top of last year’s national primary league tables. Having joined in a class debate about whether Goldilocks was right to enter the house of the three bears and inspected the school vegetable patch, I joined the whole school at Assembly where we celebrated the new school buildings and I announced the winners of my annual Christmas card competition. There were some wonderful drawings and you can look at the top ten by clicking here.
It was over to Witney next to have brunch with the Witney Big Breakfast Club to celebrate their 5th birthday. For those of you that don’t know, this is a great organisation set up to encourage links between local businesses. I launched it five years ago and I’m so pleased it is still thriving. It was great to chat with so many local entrepreneurs.
We have a new Team Rector in Witney, Revd Toby Wright, who I met after lunch and we had plenty to talk about. I then walked over to the Witney & District Museum who have a special Christmas display on at the moment. I would urge you all to visit – I certainly enjoyed looking at all the Christmases past in Witney and having a go at making sugar mice and peg dolls for my children.
A visit to the company E-Z-Rect followed this where they are producing storage lockers for the fold-up bicycles, Brompton Bikes. This is a truly innovative project and I wish them well with their aspirations to incorporate them into the 2012 Olympic complex.
I then hosted my advice surgery where people came to talk to me about subjects as diverse as allotments in Carterton, the A415 and the political system in Jersey. My last job of the day was to switch on the Witney lights which I very much enjoyed as usual! I also managed to look around most of the stalls, including enjoying some hot chestnuts and buying some Fair Trade produce. Many congratulations to all those who worked so hard to organise such a wonderful evening.
Friday, 13 November, 2009
| Friday, 13th November 2009 |
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I was joined by a very special guest on my constituency day this week. Her Excellency Madame Fu Ying, Chinese Ambassador to the United Kingdom, came to see exactly what MPs do when in their constituencies.
My day started at Kingham Hill School where the Ambassador and I held a Question & Answer session with Sixth-Formers followed by the opening of two new day houses. Here, the Ambassador very generously offered a fantastic opportunity to one student at Kingham – a year-long scholarship to China. I am sure that many students will be clamouring to take up this wonderful opportunity.
We then travelled the short distance to Holy Trinity Roman Catholic Primary School in Chipping Norton to talk with author and well-known restaurateur, Prue Leith, about the healthy eating the School Food Trust promote at lunchtime and in the classroom. We had a tour of the school and talked to the children about good food and then sampled some of it ourselves which was delicious.
Following this, the Ambassador was taken on a tour of West Oxfordshire which included the Woodstock Museum. I also held my advice surgery in Chipping Norton. Here I met with constituents who wanted to discuss, amongst other things, the postal strike and modernisation of Royal Mail, the future of children’s cardiac services in Oxfordshire, compensation for wounded soldiers and disability sport provision for young people in the area.
Blenheim Palace was next on the agenda where I met up again with the Ambassador to present the Duke of Marlborough and his team with a well-deserved Visit England environmental award. We also had a short tour and planted a young oak tree in the grounds, albeit rather hastily in the rain and gales…
The Ambassador then returned to London as I made my way back to Chipping Norton to hold a “drop-in” meeting for my constituents where some of the issues I discussed were the problems facing new entrepreneurs, climate change, Zimbabwe and Incapacity Benefit.
My final stop was in Chadlington. My local school there is currently fundraising for some new buildings so I made my way to the village church to have a “Conversation with Jane Moore”, author and journalist, who interviewed me in front of about 100 people. Jane questioned me on a whole range of topics, from Europe to Afghanistan, and from my relationship with Samantha to whether I knew what the temperature setting was on the washing machine for delicates - which I fortunately got right!
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