I have my fingers crossed that the thunderstorms will hold off for tomorrow as I am hosting my Summer Activities Fair outside at the Orbital (by the play park, next to Boots) from 10am till 12pm. If you have children, grandchildren or young relatives to keep occupied over the summer, then do come along as there will be a variety of different organisations on hand to provide opportunities for different activities. From the Wyvern Theatre to Roves Farm, and Draycott Sports Camp to Laser quest; there will be lots of different activities and special deals on offer, so don’t miss out!
This week my office has certainly been a lively place as we have joined forces with both the Orbital and the National Literacy Agency to provide exciting visits for some of Swindon’s Primary Schools. Children were invited along to the Orbital to take part in a number of activities including flower planting at Homebase and taking a behind the scenes tour of Asda before coming up to my office to select a brand new book which they would then take home and read. There was also a story telling section were the youngsters enjoyed a live performance from Pete the Pirate! These activities came just a week after I launched the Summer Reading Challenge in Parliament, the theme of which this year is Animal Agents, based on a detective agency staffed by all kinds of different animals. Reading is an enjoyable and crucial part of a child’s education so it is vital that we make reading and literacy as exciting as possible.
Elsewhere I hosted a meeting last Friday with BT along with the North & Rural Swindon Better Broadband Group to get an update on the Superfast Fibre rollout across North Swindon. As a campaign group we have successfully secured significant investment from both BT and Virgin particularly in the Northern Sector over the last 18 months. BT have recognised our pro-active work both in identifying areas for roll out, assisting residents on access the new services and supporting various pilot technology trials. Across Swindon most properties now have access to superfast fibre broadband, but we are still working hard to make sure all properties have access. This is vital for our growing economy as broadband has quickly become an essential household utility.
Finally I joined Macmillan this week in Parliament to raise awareness of the financial impact of cancer. This is an issue I have campaigned on before including during my time as the Minister for Disabled People and I am hugely supportive of the work that Macmillan is doing on this. With the number of people with cancer growing, it’s vital that action is taken now to ensure people get the support they need to cope financially when they have cancer. This is why I have already met locally with Nationwide who are already leading the way and working alongside Macmillan to provide a special service for their customers who have been diagnosed with cancer. So whilst there has been some progress, it’s clear there is more still to be done. As well as banks taking steps themselves, the Financial Conduct Authority – who regulate banks, and the Government have an important role to play in ensuring banks know that supporting people with cancer must be a priority and I will continue to push for this.
