My column for Upminster Around Town magazine:
Last month saw a series of poignant Remembrance Day events across the constituency, and I joined the parade from the Upminster and Cranham branch of the British Legion to the service at the Church of St Laurence, Upminster, where I laid a wreath along with representatives from local schools, veteran groups, charities and council.
I have made it a priority to get to know local schools and teaching teams as quickly as possible and most recently met the leadership team at Sacred Heart and children from St Joseph’s Primary, Upminster, who had come to visit parliament. To follow-up on points raised with me by teachers on post-16 education, funding and social mobility, I brought Education Secretary, Justine Greening, to the constituency to visit two local schools and speak to a group of teachers about improving education outcomes.
Small Business Saturday UK is a grassroots campaign encouraging people to ‘shop local’, and I celebrated it by bringing Foreign Secretary, Boris Johnson, to Hornchurch High Street to see the investment he made there when he was Mayor. Afterwards, my team and I headed to Can's Meze Bar in Cranham to sample their fantastic lunch menu after being invited by restaurant manager, Kasim, to nominate the restaurant for the British Kebab Awards. The Can's family team moved to Cranham to set up their first Turkish restaurant eighteen months ago, having run a fish and chip shop in Tottenham for fifteen years, and now serve fresh, delicious Turkish food to eat in or takeaway.
If you have a problem you think my team and I can help you with, please drop us a line! Or if you would like to come and have a look around parliament, we can book you in for a complimentary tour. In the meantime, we wish you all a very merry Christmas and hope the New Year brings you happiness and fulfilment.
0207 219 2631
Twitter: @julialopezmp