TASK Newsletter (22)

It's time for our regular round-up of what's happening where we are over the next couple of weeks, so here goes.

Keep music live: Friday November 12 at Ilford Sports Club

Over the last year, a new local live music scene has been emerging courtesy of the Green Fair Music Club, which hosts a monthly set at the Ilford Sports Club, 486 High Road, Ilford, IG1 1UE from 8-1130pm . This allows for the showcasing of new talent and this month sees an eclectic set including two very accomplished local bands.

The New Giants have developed their own brand of rock, drawing together influences such as Neil Young, REM, Crazy Horse, Teenage Fanclub, The Who and Tom Petty. They proved a highly popular act at the Wanstead Festival in September this year and now make their debut appearance at the Green Fair Music Club. Band members include Nigel Mear (Guitars, vocals), John Bennett (Lead guitar, vocals), Les Mear (Bass guitar, vocals), Gary Powell (Drums, percussion). Have a taste of their delicious guitar-based rock on
www.myspace.com/thenewgiants.

Dead Flowers are a 7 piece country rock band featuring guitar, keyboards, violin and mandolin who offer classic covers featuring a huge pinch of Rolling Stones flavoured with blues, soul and Americana, with diverse
material stretching from Eric Clapton and Elvis Costello through Bob Dylan and the Temptations to Chuck Berry and the Doors. www.myspace.com/deadflowerscountry.

All in all, it promises a great night of affordable live music with admission for just £4. Call Steve Collins for more information, or to pre-book for a discounted £3.50. His number is 07917 050490.

There will be light: Seven Kings festive lights and Christmas tree unveiling scheduled for Tuesday November 16 at 5pm

There can be no doubting this has been a tough year for many businesses, which is why we are delighted that the Seven Kings Business Partnership and the Council's Area 5 Committee have invested some money in seasonal celebrations in the all important trading run up to Christmas.

Last year, our big tree on the island outside the railway station and its associated lighting lifted the spirits of locals during the bleak winter, and the good news is that despite the cuts, we will have it all again.

The turning on itself is scheduled for 5pm on Tuesday November 16, with free live entertainment in the run up from 4.30pm courtesy of the Kenneth More Theatre, in Ilford, who will be promoting their 2010 pantomime, Sleeping Beauty.

Come along and join in the fun as we all countdown to Christmas.

Seven Kings Library review meeting

The new library on the High road has now been open for over three months, during which time it has attracted quite phenomenal interest from local people, as we always predicted. We will be taking part in a review session on its workings on Tuesday November 9 from 7.30-8.30pm at the library. Any thoughts or feedback on opening hours and services offered are welcome.

For this reason, there will be no open TASK supporters meeting this month. Our last session of the year in December will be on Monday December 13.

Seven Kings police panel: new set up now up and running

Last time we advertised the first ever AGM of the Seven Kings police panel, and are pleased to advise that the meeting took place and that an enhanced new panel is about to start business. It includes local residents,
neighbourhood watch co-ordinators, traders and representatives from faith and community groups, including TASK, whose nominee Tony Wright was accepted on to the panel. There are still a few unfilled places and if you are interested in getting involved, it is not too late to signal an interest.

The panel is important because it sets our local policing priorities, and monitors police progress in terms of these. At the meeting, we made the case that public drinking around the no drinking zone continues to cause concern and should remain on the priority listing; and also asked for more detail on the worrying spate of more violent crimes happening recently on our streets.

TASK will continue to press for vigilance and for maximum police visibility on our streets over the dark winter months.

High Road Lorry Park: what's happening?

Supporters have been asking about current clean-up and gating works on the old lorry park, which signal the arrival on site of the borough's PRU- Pupil Referral Unit. This provides a range of educational services for those students operating outside of mainstream schools, and, we are told, will be based here, in portkabins, for around two years, having been displaced from the rear of the closed down High Road Pool.

In the longer term, there is talk from the Town Hall of relocating college services on the site, maybe as part of a broader education/ leisure complex possibly even including a new swimming pool.

TASK have always maintained the need for the site to offer community services and will be subjecting all plans to forensic scrutiny, having opposed earlier high density housing proposals which were approved but
abandoned due to the recession.

As we hear more, we will share all ideas with you; and will seek your views on best uses of this last major Seven Kings development site.

Area 5 Committee

The final area 5 meeting of 2010 happens on Monday November 22, at Mayfield School in Goodmayes, starting at 7.15pm.

East London Citizens Annual Assembly: November 16

TASK are proud to have been invited by The East London Citizens Organisation to observe events at their annual assembly, a major gathering of 150 plus faith and community organisations working across east London, which will be reviewing the year and considering its campaign agenda for 2011. TELCO have a proud record of successful campaigning, which includes headline work around implementing the living wage for lower paid workers, and promoting local work for local people at the 2012 Olympics. We have two tickets for any supporters interested in coming along to the live event, at Walthamstow Town Hall, starting at 6.45m. To obtain one, just respond to this mail. We will also offer a full report on the meeting next time.

That's all for now. See you in a fortnight.

Chris Connelly, TASK

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Good Charlotte - We Believe.

TASK Newsletter No. 19

Welcome to our regular TASK mail out on news from around Seven Kings, including feedback from our first regular monthly supporters session, news on the upcoming library opening, an interesting idea from our founder and former leading member, Cllr. Ali Hai, on declaring Goodmayes Park a 'village' to help preserve its distinctive character; and some other nuggets from further afield. So, read on.

Supporters meeting

TASK is now committed to holding an open monthly supporters meeting, which aims to bring local people together and to agree our campaign focus for the next few months. The first session, in June, held in the garden of St. John's Church, with a healthy 9 attendees, included a mix of established supporters and some very welcome new faces.

The session was entirely focused on setting out attendees key issues for future action, which included the:

• Lack of youth facilities locally;
• New library;
• Long-term use of the lorry park;
• Crossrail;
• likely- further- expansion of the private rented sector here following new housing benefit caps which will see many tenants priced out of many inner London boroughs;
• parking;
• campaigning for a new swimming pool;
• policing; and
• supporting local businesses
  

We are hoping that August’s meeting will allow for us to decide where we most want to invest our energies this autumn, and as ever, we would like as many of you to be there to be part of our conversation. If you have other issues you would like us to raise, remember that it is not too late so email me your thoughts, or just come along on the night.

The next supporters’ session is on Monday August 2, from 7-8pm at St. John’s Church, which sits at the junction of St.John’s Road and Aldborough Road South.

Area 5 meeting: Monday July 26 at 7.15pm/Barley Lane School

Redbridge Council Area 5 committee meetings bring together all the councillors from Seven Kings, Goodmayes and Chadwell Heath Wards every 8 weeks or so to consider local issues, and to give local citizens a chance to have their say on how they would like their neighbourhood to develop and grow.

With two thirds of the area 5 councillors newly elected, we are hoping for a more easy going and welcoming approach. So, come along, see how local democracy Redbridge-style works, and maybe chip in yourselves. On the agenda this time is an innovative item from the Goodmayes councillor team looking to protect the distinctive character of attractive Edwardian housing near Goodmayes Park by way of declaring it a designated residential precinct they would like to call Goodmayes Village.

Seven Kings Library opening: July 26 at 2pm

It is now just a week away. The culmination of our three year cross-community campaign to get a library back here in Seven Kings, to right the injustice of the 1992 Carnegie Library closure and ‘sell off’.

Initially, the politicians said it could not be done but a massive petition and door to door campaigning eventually helped change their minds, leading to Monday’s historic opening. The formal ribbon cutting by Council leader Keith Prince happens at 2pm, with normal opening starting at 9 am on Tuesday July 27th. Do pop by for both if you are around.

The new Seven Kings library is at 679 High Road, between Costcutter and Asha Jewellers.

It is all very exciting stuff, and is happening just in time for the summer holidays so local youngsters can take part in the legendary summer reading scheme on their doorsteps for the first time in a generation. We are also delighted that at least one of the new staff team lives locally and that the library has special Seven Kings friendly opening hours including early mornings, late nights and- for the first time ever in a Redbridge library- Sundays.

As TASK see it, distinctive arrangements for a distinctive place.

Lorry park school plan: latest news

Word reaches us that a planning application has been lodged by the borough for portkabin classrooms on the lorry park, the last major development plot in the area and one that TASK has campaigned should be dedicated to community use, such as a permanent library, hall and/ or pool.

Our enquiries with the borough planning department reveal a two year proposal for classrooms and play space for the John Barker referral unit, serving pupils removed from mainstream education.

TASK will be scrutinising the proposals carefully to ensure that our long- term preference is not thwarted, and to ensure that any even temporary use allows for a high quality and appropriate development.

As ever, we welcome your views

Your Square Mile website

This is an interesting new idea from the government, picked up in yesterday’s Sunday Times, which flags plans to develop a nationwide website called Your Square Mile this autumn, allowing for more local involvement in community projects. The site will apparently cover all 94,000 square miles in the UK, and will allow a whole range of community transactions from details of local clean ups and volunteering to promoting discount services, reading groups and babysitting opportunities. A prototype scheme in Southwark, the Southwark Circle, now run independently of the council, and even offers locals access to both volunteer and charged DIY and care services, in a project they call “the neighbourly way to sort the everyday”.

Keep watching this space for more.

That’s it for now. Keep sending us your local stories, ideas and suggestions.

Chris Connelley

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Tom Jones - Did Trouble Me.