I have been contacted by residents this week to highlight a campaign led by the Campaign For Real Ale (CAMRA) ahead of the upcoming Autumn budget. The campaign is asking the chancellor to cut beer duty, end the ban on take home pints, extend business rate relief, and support pubs with rising energy costs. I absolutely understand the importance of pubs to local communities, and will certainly feed these suggestions in.
The campaign was very well timed, as yesterday I was lucky enough to be a judge at the Swindon Beer Festival.
The festival, now in its 35th year, showcases a variety of beers, ales and ciders from both the local area and from across the country, and this year’s event has a whopping 90 beers and ciders for visitors to try. In homage to the ongoing Rugby World Cup there were a handful of beers with names loosely related to rugby – such as Haka, Scrummy and Big Hit.
After the judging, I spent time chatting to representatives from the breweries, members of the local CAMRA group volunteering at the festival and local residents who were enjoying the atmosphere. It was brilliant to see their passion for the pub and brewery trade – and it was great to see small and independent breweries given such a fantastic platform.
It was a very impressive event, and huge credit should do to the CAMRA volunteers who worked so hard to make the event a success.
During the recent Parliamentary recess, I have taken the opportunity to really push forward with my work to engage with local schools and young people. Over the past few weeks, I have visited Highworth Warneford (twice), Rodebourne Cheney Primary School, and Haydon Wick Primary School, and met with 7th Swindon Scouts.
My latest visit was to Greenmeadow Primary School for one of my interactive assemblies. The assemblies are designed to teach the children how a Bill passes through Parliament to become a law – and can often get very lively as they pass their own school Bill!
I am always impressed by the enthusiasm and excitement the pupils show during the assemblies – and the Greenmeadow students were no different! This engagement with local schools is so important, as it gives young people an understanding and appreciation of the importance of our democratic process.
There was some very good news this week for the Great Western Academy after it was confirmed that a community use agreement had been reached with Sport England to open their impressive 3G pitch to the wider community. There is still a process to go through, but at least now further progress can be made.
I have been working with GWA, Sport England and The Football Foundation to help secure this agreement – and after many months of wrangling I am delighted to see that this work has been successful.
Throughout my time in Parliament I have been a very keen advocate for helping schools utilise their facilities and allow them to be used by local sport and community groups. I have spoken many times in Parliament on this issue, highlighting that doing so not only provides some extra income for the school, but also provides an important asset to the local area.
I am delighted that GWA now has the opportunity to fully utilise their fantastic pitch, and that the local community has such a valuable asset.
