It’s been a busy week in the patch as the Conference Recess continues, and as ever it’s been great to meet with so many local pillars within our community and discuss the AMAZING work that these people, many of them volunteers, carry out on our behalf.
Last week that included joining the OneCommunity team to mark their 40th Anniversary! This amazing organisation does so much to help people of all ages locally, and I was so pleased to see this work recognised at the very top, winning the very rare Queens Award for Voluntary Service in 2018…I can’t think of many better ways to celebrate a 40th anniversary?!
Those that have been central to OneCommunity almost automatically become role models for others in our community, particularly our younger people, and last Tuesday I popped in to speak to members of the 4th Hedge End Girl Guides about how important it is to have good role models…particularly women! We spoke at length about my role as an MP, about women’s suffrage and what it means to be a female MP 100 years on from the date the first women won the right to vote in elections. We also spoke about why having women making decisions results in better outcomes! My thanks to the girls for their brilliant questions and the Girl Guiding team for making me feel so welcome.
If you are anything like me, your Sunday evenings over the past few weeks have evolved around one thing...watching the new BBC series Bodyguard, particularly last week as its final episode aired brining in 11 million viewers! It is great to see this British series grip the imaginations of the nation, and while a little too close for comfort at times echoing the tragedy’s that we saw at Manchester and in London, it is a reminder of just how fortunate we are to have such committed security and emergency services. Teams located across Hampshire do an amazing job of keeping us all safe day in, day out, while our ambulance and fire services are always there when we need them! Last week, like many others, I took the opportunity to visit and say thanks to our brilliant fire fighters in Eastleigh for their Open Day. These folks are so unbelievably brave and we owe them more than many of us would ever recognise. I’m hoping this Open Day will turn into an annual event, and if it does, I’d strongly recommend it!
Finally for this week, the team at Southampton Airport have been working up their Master Plan as they look to expand operations, creating jobs and growing our regional economy as they do so. However, like me, they recognise that it is VITAL that they take local people along with them as they embark on this ambitious programme, and last Wednesday launched their public consultation. I would strongly urge you to take part, to give your view on environmental issues, the traffic or where you would like routes to be. However, if you’d like to share your views with me as well, please feel free to drop me an email to mims.davies.mp@parliament.uk I will be making a full submission too and would like to hear from residents and businesses on this and any other matter.
In the meantime, wishing you all a great weekend!