Harlow Community Update - 13 February 2012

Last week I visited a number of Harlow Community groups and local businesses, as I often do. Here's a brief update:

MP Advice Surgery
My first stop in the morning was one of my regular MP advice surgeries - this time at Tanys Dell Primary School. It was held at the beginning of the school day, to make it easier for Parents and Guardians to come and speak with me about any problems and worries that they have.

My next School surgery is Friday 9th March, at Fawbert & Barnard School, between 09:00 and 10:00. No appointment is needed. Please just pop in, and have a chat. I would be pleased to see you.

Alternatively, if you would like to attend one of my general MP Advice Surgeries, please call my office on 01279 311 451.

Attwaters Solicitors 
Next stop, I went to Attwaters for the opportunity to talk to their lawyers, and to give them an opportunity to talk to me about apprenticeships and other issues. I met several layers all practising different areas of the law and was given an insight of what they all did.

Milwards Primary School
I was invited to Milwards Primary School, not by the teachers, but by the pupils themselves. They had spent several days compiling photographs of things in and around the school grounds that they liked and disliked. The children had even made a scrap book, containing these photos. I was pleased to talk to them about what they would like to see done in Harlow. For such young children they asked amazingly intelligent questions.

Afterwords I held a Q&A session with the Year 6 class (see the photo above). Again the calibre of questions was incredibly high, and very politically savvy.

Both Groups of children where highly intelligent, and I wish I had more time so that every one of them had the opportunity to ask me a question. 

If you are interested in reading my earlier posts, you can read my previous community update here.

by Robert Halfon - www.roberthalfon.blogspot.com

Harlow Community Update

Last week I visited a number of Harlow Community groups and local businesses, as I often do. Here's a brief update:

School Walk in MP Advice Surgery
Last week, I held one of my regular School Walk in MP advice surgeries at Longwood School. These are held at the beginning of the School day, to make it easier for Parents and Guardians to come and speak to me about any problems and worries that they have.

My next School surgery is Friday 10 February, at Tanys Dell School, between 08:30 and 09:30. No appointment is needed. Please just pop in, and have a chat. I would be pleased to see you.

Alternatively, if you would like to attend one of my general MP Advice Surgeries, please call my office on 01279 311 451.

St Elizabeth's charity shop
Next stop, I visited the new St Elizabeth’s charity shop in Staple Tye. This is not your average charity shop: it was selling sofas, microwaves, toys, wardrobes, cameras and much more. There is an added bonus, as these are all tested for high quality, and if they don’t meet standards they are recycled. The majority of Staff and Volunteers are from Harlow, some of whom volunteer there five days a week. Well worth a visit next time you are in Staple Tye.


If you are interested in reading my earlier posts, you can read my previous Community update here.

by Robert Halfon - www.roberthalfon.blogspot.com

Harlow Community Update

Last week I visited a number of Harlow Community groups and local businesses, as I often do. Here's a brief update:

MP Advice Surgery
On Friday 6th January I held one of my regular MP advice surgeries, helping Harlow residents with problems and worries that that they have. Please call my constituency office to book an appointment for the next available place on 01279 311 451.

Harlow Foodbank
I visited Harlow foodbank again to see Kelloggs donating £500 and cereal boxes. Kelloggs have a fantastic relationship with foodbank and their support is greatly appreciated.

I tabled a motion thanking Kelloggs. You can read it here.

Longwood School
This was my first visit to Longwood since the two schools merged. It was fantastic to meet the Staff and Pupils. But it was even better to hear that with a 82% attainment rate in Literacy and Numeracy, Longwood is now in the top 25% of schools in Essex.

I am holding a Surgery at Longwood between 8:30 and 9:30 on the 3rd Febuary. If any one has a question or a problem I might be able to help with, I urge you to come and talk to me.

Please read my previous Community update here.

by Robert Halfon - www.roberthalfon.blogspot.com

Harlow Community Update

Last week I visited a number of Harlow Community groups and local businesses, as I often do. Here's a brief update:

HARLOW COLLEGE
For the second time since becoming Harlow’s MP, I attended the Essex Police Keeping Safe show at Harlow College. This is incredibly important for young students, as it shows the tragedy of knife crime, and how it can ruin people's lives. The event was put on by two of our hardworking Police PCSOs: Karen Rogers and Phyllis Chipchase. They said that knife crime has dropped in Harlow over the last year, which is encouraging.

O-I MANUFACTURING
I’m incredibly proud that Harlow has one of the largest glass bottle manufacturers in the world: O-I Manufacturing. I was honoured to meet the bosses at O-I Manufacturing, and talk to them about their work: creating glass bottles for companies like Coca Cola and Carlsberg. They're also the largest glass recycler in the south-east. At the same time, it is a shame that of the 1.6 Million Tonnes of glass collected each year for recycling; only 600,000 Tonnes goes to recycling centres like the one at O-I. This isn't good enough, and we have to get better on green issues. I’ll be looking forward to going back to O-I early next year to go around the plant.

HARLOWBURY PRIMARY SCHOOL CHRISTMAS FETE

Last stop of the day: the Harlowbury School’s Christmas Fete. It was fantastic to see all the Parents, Teachers and Children all getting stuck in raising cash for charity. But the greatest thing was the generosity of local firms, in helping to support the school by donating goodies for the raffle. I also did a little bit of shopping and got a lovely Christmas present for my partner, Vanda. I genuinely love going around schools like Harlowbury, and look forward to having more of their students come to Parliament next year.

You can read last week's update here.

by Robert Halfon - www.roberthalfon.blogspot.com