Christmas Day: I love you

Raising money for Mayor's Charities singing Xmas Carols

Supporting Mayor's Charities:

I was dressed as Santa Claus raising money for the Spelthorne Borough's Mayor Cllr Robin Sider 4 charities below:

1. The Spelthorne Multiple Sclerosis Society 
2. The Spelthorne Alzheimer's Society 
3. Spelthorne Gymnastics Club 
4. The Swan Sanctuary

I was happy to see the Mayor of Spelthorne Cllr Robin Sider again with so many councillors including the Leader of Spelthorne Borough Council, Cllr Frank Ayers and his wife Ann and other supporters and carollers turned up to sing and spread the Christmas cheer all around in this Holy month of the birth of our beloved Jesus Christ. Thank you to Cllr Chris Bannister for organising Carolling Councillors event yearly raising much needed funds for the Mayor’s chosen charities.

I then embarked on spreading the simple message of Christmas cheer (not raising any money though), dressed as Santa on Church Road, Ashford after the Elmsleigh centre experience and met many shop keepers, passersby, and people waiting on the bus stops, taking pictures when I could. Nearly everyone was happy to see me as I saw people beeping their cars wishing me 'Merry Christmas', I was so delighted, felt happy and energised that Ashford is such a nice place to live and do business as people are just simply humble and happy people, courteous and generous to the core and I believe that Ashford is excellent town location for business development. A few would have paid me to shut-up too, either way I would have simply forwarded that money to the Mayor's charities. Well, an idea for next year.

Afterwards I embarked on my journey to other areas, doing the same, wishing everyone 'Merry Christmas and happy new year' all around, I received the same positive responses, people beeping, getting my attention, children waving, mothers pointing at me and their children who were simply so happy to see me, many mums had pictures taken with me and their children, next to the prams and their cars, one father even stopped his car on the road in Uxbridge road Hillingdon so that his children can have a good look at me from the back seat and they all waved and shouted “Father Christmas”. I wished that there was someone making a movie of all this to share with you all. I met one lady called Jean Barrett in Uxbridge too (former resident of Staines) who gave me £5 for the Mayor's charities without my prompt when I told her what I did earlier. £5 that Jean gave me along with my £20, I saved sending eCards to everybody, saving a few trees along the way with the cue from Cllr Budd & Smith Ainsley, thank you to you both.

I believe that if I carried the bucket I would have easily raised hundreds of pounds more for Mayor’s Charities at this special time of the year when people are charitable and they happily give to charities and help the poor and needy.

I strongly believe that the vast majority of the people around the world are good people, charitable, forgiving, loving, no matter what religion, nationality or group they are from, which is evident from funds raised by hundreds of charities around the world regularly, but I believe that British people are the most generous of them all, which we must promote and highlight in everything we do, instead of so much negative press we get from the media. Britain is a wonderful place to live, do business and visit.

I would like to start a "Santa Cllrs Sleigh Group with Bells" which will travel at all the main high streets of Spelthorne few days before Christmas next year, spreading Christmas cheer, raising money for various Charities, any takers? Please let me know if you wish to join.

We played a very small part in the Elmsleigh Centre on Saturday raising much needed funds for Mayor’s Charities but much work still needs to be done as the squeeze of social reforms hit many in our Borough, and I know that all of us feel the pain too and I have no doubt that what can be done by Spelthorne Borough Council will be done to reduce the effect these changes will have on those that are most vulnerable in our Borough where possible. I do thank Kwasi Kwarteng MP and Ashford Pride team who managed to acquire £10,000 from the Government for uplifting Ashford, much credit goes to Ashford Pride team. Along with them, Ashford on the Map, Ashford Rotary Club, Ashford Camera club, Royal British Legion and SSFA volunteers are our unsung heroes that do so much for our lovely town of Ashford and no doubt much more still needs to be done and is being done by them and many other groups, my big thank you goes to all of you and may you have a very happy Christmas and prosperous new year 2013.

I would like to thank all the councillors and staff at Spelthorne Borough council who work so hard throughout the year to make Spelthorne a nice place to live and do business. My special Christmas thanks goes to the residents of Ashford, Ashford East & Ashford Common for their support and good wishes with so many messages of support I receive on regular basis, God bless you all and thank you to all of you. May this blessed month make your new year 2013 a happy and prosperous one for you and your family.

Residence of Ashford, Ashford East & Ashford Common have been meeting with me and County Cllr Coleman with their concerns since I became a councillor at Ashford Library on first Saturday of every month at 11am-12 noon, they should check with the library staff of any changes in the schedule. The residents have also been communicating with me via telephone, email and letters where all have been responded to by me, Cllr Fraser and Cllr Mitchell. I continue to encourage all the residents with concerns to contact us straight away as some matters may require urgent action. Thank you.

 

Christmas Carol Singing in Council Chamber

Mrs Gillian Hobbs, Committee Manager organised this wonderful get together for staff and councillors singing Christmas Carols together in the Council Chamber. It was exciting experience by everybody. I managed to get some photos. The music and event was hosted by the Mayor of Spelthorne Cllr Robin Sider. "Partridge in the tree" was my line. Every body requested to sing twice, marvelous. I am totally delighted at the good heartedness of the staff at Spelthorne, and of course Gillian Hobbs.
Special guess was Kevin Hurley a new PCC for Surrey and Leader of the Spelthorne Borough Council Cllr Frank Ayres was next to me.

 

Legacy of the Torch Dinner in Eton

http://www.london2012.com/venue/eton-dorney/

This dinner was organised by ISB in a very nice location of Eton Dorney rowing club, an British Olympic ground owned by Eton College. The dinner was nice but not enough, all I was thinking about was a burger and chips afterwards. There were many famous celebrities speaking about the need to support ISB like Kristiane Backer, Naeem Raza, Ajmal Masroor, Julie Siddique and Dilwar Hussein.

There were number of British Athelets who took part in London Olympics 2012, won medals and represented the muslim community and played a positive role for Great Britain and showed diversity at work and all proud to be British, which was very nice for me to witness the work of ISB.

Met many younsters men and women from various part of the British Community from Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and Of course England. Networking was at work and cards were exchanged. My highlight was meeting Kristiane Backer, an MTV presenter who shared her experiences about Islamic experiences and talked about her book "from MTV to Mecca", which has been read and appreciate by ArchBishop of Canterbury. Julie Siddique did a fantastic job on organising the event and leading ISB and giving it a new image, well done Julie. Dilawar Hussein what a nice man, an academic and well respected.
The book written by Katie Piper "Beautiful" was given out free, to highlight the victims of acid attack victims and Katie's work and involement with ISB was appreciated. It was a wonderful evening for me.

 

Walton Bridge Site Visit under construction

Mrs Gillian Hobbs the Committee Manager of Spelthorne Borough Council organised the successful visit. The intro, presentation and changing to protective gear took about an hour. The presentation covered the history of the bridge, some of the design considerations and constraints that Surrey County Council has faced and also the progress to date, taking in some of the innovations and cost savings they have introduced were mentioned. The walk round tour took around 2 hours.

The visit to Walton Bridge Site was thoroughly enjoyed by five Members  Councillor Asif Ayub, Sam Budd, Sandra Dunn, Tm Evans;  Alan Patterson.

Yes It was a fantastic trip, Andrew Woodward who is Surrey County Council project manager was simply awesome, very pleasant and made the trip exciting, the live experience we had simply was memorable, some of us got an opportunity to play in the mud J, in fact all of us J, see the picture evidence. I have tried to capture most moments and points of interest, no doubt the visitors (us) will remember it for a long time. I sent out an email to all Conservative Group of councillors to book your place, as I am hoping that the pictures I sent in to them will drive the rest to go, and I think we all looked good in a uniform J

 

Campaigning Day Sunbury Common 2012

Wow, non stop, efforts are made to talk to un willing residents who are just simply not warming to the Conservatives, its sad as most Conservatives feel more at home with UKIP, Labour is also making a head way and seeing their chance, Lib dems shaken with renewed interest and seeing that it just possible someone else my take Sunbury Common, hopes are alive on all sides.

But according to rise of UKIP, my hopes of Conservative victory is shaken but still hopeful that we might just do it, if only UKIP supporters understands that UKIP may not be ble to make  difference to their lives. But seems disillusionment with coalition was evident. But determination and hope must remain alive as these give me hope. As this will also strengthen my branch.
Although we have blitz the town again.

 

Big Tree Night 2012 Shepperton

Re: WOW Shepperton, You Are Amazing

 Dear Friends,

WOW, what a night. Shepperton leads the way; truly, the evidence was witnessed by me last night at the massive community get together, Big Tree Night 2012. Sheppertonians know how to have fun. Real reindeers, Santa's grotto, stalls from edge to edge on the high street; from candy stall, entertainment, charities, rides, hot and cold food stall, the list is endless and its all run by volunteers. My hats off to them all: well virtually.

It was freezing cold evening, I was fully prepared for it, the hat, the gloves, polar jacket and a woolly hat, oh yes I was ready but sheer numbers made it all nice and warm, so I did not need my hat, glove but kept the jacket on :).And I think that there may have been around 7k-8k people there quite easily, the whole street was packed and it was also closed off. Men, women, children were simply there as it is like big family get together, I felt that nearly everybody knew each other, even though some of the people were there from other towns, but I felt that they were all connected with each other some-how either through relations or friendship. I am impressed.

I am proud of Ashford on the Map, Ashford Pride, Ashford Camera Club, Ashford Rotary Club, Ashford Scouts, SSFA & Royal British Legion and all the residents of Ashford, and the wonderful volunteers who organise it, it is a special event too and they all make Ashford very special, Thank you to you all, without you Ashford would be an ordinary town.

 

But Shepperton has taught me a lot last night. I would simply say thank you to Mathew Want, who invited me, as I did not know what to expect but I am happy that I did go. I walked up and down the street, seen all the stalls, plenty to eat n drink, I even bought 2 goody bags from the lovely Becky Middleton at the Herald stall at 65p each for my 2 children, good value for money I must say and a first aid kit from St John’s Ambulance stall.

The Mayor Cllr Robin Sider opened the event with his lovely wife; the Leader of the Spelthorne Borough Council Cllr Frank Ayers was there too with his lovely wife Ann, CEO Roberto Tambini, Cllr Robert Watts, and County Councillor Richard Walsh were all there. I met little Lily Star Crouch, Rod Stamford, Niki Molinar, Reindeers (met them all), Santa, Debra Birt, Jim Maxwell, The police support, St John’s Ambulance, Shepperton Rotary Club and many more (see the pictures). There may have been other councillors present but I only met the ones I have mentioned. If you guys were not there you have truly missed an experience of a life time, simply but genuine big family spirit was present, which is simply very rare to find nowadays. This mass enjoyment should be replicated through every town in Spelthorne; I hope that we can achieve this. I have documented it through pictures for you to see it all. Once again thank you Mathew.

 

 

Dinner at House of Lords Dec 2012

What a wonderful place with so many ordinary, ViP but all high achieving individuals, many volunteers for the launch of Muslim Heritage centre in Manchester hosted by Lord Sheikh, with special guest Gerald Kaufman MP.
We were spoiled by inspirational speakers like Lord Sheikh and Gerald Kaufman. This project has cost many millions of pounds mainly funded by Arab states to educate muslims and non-muslims around the world in arts of modernity, islamic education, the aim is to curb extremism through education. This project has cross party support, and I am priviledged to be invited and be part of the history being made. There are around 2.5 Million muslims living in UK and majority of investment in united kingdom comes from Gulf states. United Kingdom has a very high influence in muslim world and hope to maintain her presence and help development and trade, as our economy and jobs are dependent on this co-operation. United states recently adopted Muslimworld envoy in  His excellency Rashad Hossein to build partnership, understanding and strong relationship. Britain has yt to follow this model. It will most definately help our economy and will pull us out of economic depression.