Monday, 28 July 2014

The Wembley Lion Returns

Local historian Philip Grant and the Wembley History Society are to be congratulated on getting a little piece of the British Empire Exhibition preserved. A preserved lion's head from Palace of Industry, that was demolished by developers last year, has now been erected on a plinth at the junction of Wembley Hill Road and Empire Way. It marks the end of the 90th Anniversary Exhibition at Brent Civic Centre.

Cllr Muhammed Butt, cut a ribbon today to inaugurate the lion and Philip Grant made a short speech. Rather typically for modern Wembley, he was almost drowned out by the noise of building works.




The short video below shows the demolition of the Palace of Industry and the carving out of the lion's head corbel.


Saturday, 26 July 2014

Jon Snow and Michael Rosen speak out for the children of Gaza

Jon Snow speaks about the Children of Gaza on returning home from reporting the onslaught



Michael Rosen read his poem 'Don't Name the Dead Children' at today's Rally for Gaza


followed by 'Then what?'

 

Wembley mums set up Eid supermarket boycott campaign for the children of Gaza


Children protest on behalf of their brothers and sisters in Gaza, London, July 26th 2014
A group of Wembley mothers, sickeded by the sight of children being murdered in Gaza, have set up their own campaign over Eid  to boycott large supermarkets that sell Israeli produce.

This is what they say on their Facebook page:

MUMS 4 CHILDREN OF PALESTINE

EID TOTAL BOYCOTT OF ASDA, TESCO, WAITROSE, SAINSBURYS UNTIL END OF 29 JULY 2014

This group has been created because of the affinity mothers and grandmothers feel for the plight of the people of Palestine. In this month of July 2014 Israel has mercilessly bombed Gaza resulting in countless deaths, suffering, trauma and horrendous injuries, mental and physical.

WE ARE SICKENED AT SEEING BABIES, CHILDREN AND PREGNANT WOMEN WITH UNBORN BABIES IN THEIR WOMBS BEING MURDERED!

We feel helpless as we do not have much power to effect justice for the Palestinians, who have suffered for decades. But what power we do have is our spending power. We often make the decisions in our families on what we purchase for our families and homes. And now we are using this power to force change.

In the first instance, we want to use this power to transform our buying patterns and to boycott companies, supermarkets and other outlets that sell produce from Israel and the Occupied Territories. We are bringing our local Mums together to effect real change - because money speaks!
We have had enough of British companies propping up Israel economically, which allow it to act with impunity. We will no longer be complicit in this genocide because we will no longer buy Israeli & OT produce. We will run Total Boycott Strikes targeting all the supermarkets until they comply with our demands.

We are demanding that all supermarkets:

• Stop sourcing all their produce from Israel
• Stop sourcing their produce from the Occupied Territories
• Support Palestinian Farmers and other ethical producers around the world

We are an organic movement of Mums of all backgrounds and this is only the beginning. We are not going to stop until children of Gaza can sleep safely in their beds in a free Palestine and there is a JUST resolution for the Palestinians.

‪#‎FreePalestine‬ ‪#‎FreeGaza‬ ‪#‎Boycott4childrenofgaza‬

JOIN US ON FACEBOOK

Follow on Twitter @Mums4gazakids

The Lion Will Roar Again in Wembley on Monday

A lion's head corbel, rescued from the demolition of the last of the British Empire Exhibition buildings, is to be unveiled at its new resting place in Wembley on Monday at 12.15pm.  The unveiling coincides with the end of the exhibition 'The Lion Roars - the World at Wembley' at Brent Civic Centre which marks the 90th Anniversary of the British Empire Exhibition.

I publish Philip Grant's Guest blog account of the Lions of Wembley below: