I hope everyone enjoyed the sunny Bank Holiday weekend, suitably socially distanced. For my part I was anything but socially distanced from my computer over the weekend responding to hundreds of emails from constituents with an opinion on the Dominic Cummings affair. I made my view clear that his actions had been unhelpful and that has not changed. You can ready my full statement on my Facebook page.
I hope that next weekend I can spend a little more time away from my computer and with my lock downed family who have found a great way of cooking homemade pizzas in a converted garden chimenea. Domestic harmony has been pretty good in the Loughton household in fact and only really been threatened by my daughters’ attempts at cutting my son’s hair. Please reopen the gyms as well as the barbers soon!
Congratulations to Shoreham born Councillor Andy McGregor who was elected the new Chair (virtually) of Adur District Council last week. As well as bringing a bit of his dance glamour to Council proceedings Andy has chosen 3 excellent organisations as his Chairman’s Charities for the year: Supeta - the youth training yacht based in Shoreham; West Sussex Mind mental health charity and Safe in Sussex supporting victims of domestic abuse.
I have teamed up with one of these, Safe in Sussex, as well as the excellent local charity Home-Start Arun, Worthing and Adur and would like your help. Both need funds and have set up funding pages at Spacehive.com/packs-of-joy and www.safeinsussex.co.uk but they also need equipment which people may be able to donate.
Safe in Sussex would like new or good quality toys (not soft toys) which they can distribute to the families they are supporting. Half the residents of refuges are of course children who have often had to leave behind many of their possessions. Home-Start is looking for indoor and outdoor activity equipment to help children particularly cooped up in flats during lockdown- hula hoops, bats and balls etc as well as bean bags for sitting on.
If you are like my family, then many people have used lockdown as an opportunity for a bit of a clear-out so you may well have something appropriate which we could save from landfill now the tips are open again. You would be achieving a ‘double whammy’ of helping vulnerable families and saving the planet! If you have anything you think would be appropriate please drop me an email with the details to [email protected] and I will arrange for one of my volunteers or me to collect it (appropriately socially distanced) give it a once over, and deliver to one of the two charities.
