The Leader of the Council's online diary March 2007
Saturday 31 March
Saturday is surgery day. In Brixton, the Labour councillors hold an advice surgery every morning at 10.00am in the town hall. We take it in turns to hold the surgery, and this week it was my turn.
Last time, I’d had nearly 20 people and it had taken three hours to see them all. This week was a bit quieter - just three people turned up. The range of issues people bring is always very varied. I saw one young man who had received an unfair parking ticket. The Council had changed the parking rules on a road near Brixton Rec but hadn’t changed the signs. I offered to take it up with the officers and try to get the ticket cancelled, and I’ve also asked for the signs to be changed at once.
An older lady living in a block on a council estate was upset about blocked drains outside her window. I contacted housing officers and asked them to pay an urgent visit. With the weather getting warmer, there seemed to be a risk to health if this wasn’t sorted out.
Finally, a young man from southern Africa asked me for help with finding somewhere new to live. He had a minor disability and should have been getting better support from the Council. I contacted the appropriate department and was assured they’d be able to help him find somewhere to live when his current tenancy expires. It’s very frustrating to find that the Council has let people down, but very rewarding when you’re able to intervene as a councillor and get things sorted out.
Friday 30 March
Today I was shown round the Golden Years day centre for Latin American older people. The centre is based on Chancel Road just off Brixton Road and really does offer an extraordinary range of different activities for the people who go there. I joined in with a group of older Latin American people who were learning English.
As it’s nearly Easter, they were doing an Easter Egg hunt - well, a paper-based hunt. They had to explain, in English, where the egg was hidden in each of a series of pictures. There were paintings all over the walls - all of them painted by visitors to the centre, and many of them really very impressive. Then the doctor came to answer questions about keeping active and healthy. The doctor, a young medic from Chile doing a sabbatical in London, was offering his services for free.
Then, as I was treated to lunch, we heard some of the older people from Colombia singing traditional songs from their home country, accompanied by guitar. It was great to see so many older people able to make such good use of their time, keeping their minds and bodies active and - best of all - having a really good time.
Sunday 25 March 2007
This weekend marks the 200th anniversary of the abolition of slavery in Britain. I joined the Archbishops of Canterbury and York, representatives of Commonwealth nations, and hundreds of other people on a 'walk of witness' on Saturday afternoon. The march expressed repentance for the horrors of the trade in human beings that saw millions killed and abused. The march left Whitehall and finished with a service in Kennington Park here in Lambeth. Along the route, a wreath was laid on a boat at Lambeth Bridge to be carried to the docks where an act of remembrance will take place for those who died or suffered in nearly 3,000 ship journeys that left London to take part in this evil trade.
Lambeth has its own role in the abolition movement. William Wilberforce, the abolitionist MP, led the movement for abolition from the Holy Trinity church on Clapham Common. As a society, we still carry the legacy of slavery. Thousands of our citizens are themselves descended from people who were enslaved. It's a mark of how far we've come that, today, so many different communities live together in peace in Lambeth.
The work of the abolitionists is still not completed. Slavery exists in modern forms, including people trafficking, forced prostitution and child labour. We must all use this anniversary as a spur to work harder to root out these modern forms of slavery. The march was deeply moving. I personally think we should say sorry, as a nation, for the suffering that slavery inflicted. Perhaps, though, our best response to the history of slavery is to show, by how we live together, that we care about each other as human beings equal in dignity and worth.
Monday 12 March 2007
People have come to live in Lambeth from all over the world. Many of our older people were born in countries that now form part of the Commonwealth. So it was no surprise that the annual Commonwealth Day celebration at the Woodlawns Older People's Centre in Streatham was jam-packed.
The organisers had put on a full programme of events. We watched an Indian dancer perform a traditional village dance. The audience joined in with some favourite old tunes sung by the wonderful ladies of the Darby and Joan Choir. Then, after a few speeches, we all enjoyed a delicious lunch: a buffet of food from across the Commonwealth. The organisers of the event really did a great job - and they showed just how valuable the Woodlawns Centre is to the older people of our borough.
It was a great pleasure for me to announce that the council has agreed to grant the Centre an extension of its lease so that it can become home to Lambeth's very first Older People's Resource Centre. With the future of the Centre now assured, we can all look forward to plenty more events to enjoy at Woodlawns.