Swindon Advertiser Weekly Article - 17th July 2017

Last week I was delighted to attend Swindon College’s annual Apprenticeship Awards Ceremony. I joined vice-principal David Francis and operational manager Julia Hoskins to congratulate students and staff as part of the celebration of the success of this year’s outstanding apprentices.

Among the winners were students who had completed an apprenticeship in a range of disciplines including housing, accountancy, carpentry, business administration and plumbing.

In our manifesto we repeated our pledge to our commitment to create three million apprenticeships for young people by 2020, giving people the chance to learn while they earn.

In Swindon alone we have seen more than 10,000 apprenticeships created since 2010 and it is great to see local schools and colleges working to build on that and offering young people chances to succeed.

I was able to continue the praise of Swindon College in Parliament as I intervened on the Parliamentary debate on rebalancing the economy when jobs and skills were discussed.

I welcomed the fall in youth unemployment across Swindon and increased take-up of apprenticeships, referring to the recent Swindon College awards which showcased the very best of how apprenticeships can improve people’s lives for the better.

I was delighted that the MP who I had intervened on, Mark Harper, the Conservative MP for the Forest of Dean, had received his A-Levels from Swindon College, which allowed him to become the first member of his family to attend university.

Elsewhere on Sunday I went along to a film evening hosted by Swindon resident and amateur filmmaker Simon Sly.

Simon had hired one of the screens at Cineworld in Shaw Ridge and showcased his compilation of short films, entitled The 12 Wonders Of The Short Film World, to a packed audience full of family and friends.

Simon who is former maths teacher, was diagnosed with primary progressive MS eight years ago, but the world of cinema has allowed him to escape, and use his creativity to produce a variety of different short films some of which are light-hearted while others carry a more serious message.

It was a really enjoyable evening and if any others would like to see The 12 Wonders of the Short Film World then they can follow this link to Simon’s You Tube page: https://youtu.be/3lMrfpQbcUs.

A big thank you to all of those who came along to my Summer Activities Fair last weekend. As the summer holidays are just around the corner, I was keen to provide parents and carers with ideas for ways to keep their children active.

I was delighted to see local groups such as Draycott Sports Camp, GLL Better Leisure, Wyvern Theatre, Futsal, North Swindon Library, Abbey Meads FC, Roves Farm and others join us to showcase their various different offers to keep children suitably entertained.

The turn-out was great and I was pleased to see so many people leave with information leaflets and discount booklets.

Finally, if you are stuck for something to do on Saturday and are itching for the new football season to get under way, then Swindon Supermarine are facing Newport County AFC for a pre-season friendly at 3pm.

We enjoyed great weather at the Swindon Town friendly last Saturday, so fingers crossed it stays the same for tomorrow.