Jellyfish: the life of a young carer is hard until she discovers her hidden talent - special film showing May 28th Lexi Cinema

Dudden Hill meeting with Dawn Butler on crime and anti-social behaviour TONIGHT 7pm

From Willesden Green Residents' Association

TONIGHT 7pm: Community meeting with Dawn Butler MP (Brent Central) to discuss crime and Anti Social Behaviour in the Dudden Hill area at Learie Constantine Centre, 43-47 Dudden Hill Lane, NW10 2ET. (Nearest tube Dollis Hill)

Also attending are Transport for London, British Transport Police, Metropolitan Police and Brent Council. Please attend if you can!

End drug-related crime - Public Meeting: How drugs affect us and our community - Brent Civic Centre May 21st

End drug-related crime - Public Meeting Drugs affect us and our community

7pm-9pm Tuesday 21 May 2019 Brent Civic Centre Grand Hall Tea and coffee from 6.45pm

How can we stop the violence and exploitation caused by drugs? Have your say – make a difference 

Find out:

• whose lives are affected by drugs

 • how drugs fuel exploitation, crime and violence 

 • what the police are doing 

 • how mentors with first-hand experience can help 

What can we all do now and in the longer term?

How can parents help?

How can young people help? 

How can schools help?

How can policy and legislation help?

 Hear what the panel say. Ask them questions. Make suggestions.

 PANEL

•  Louis Smith, Police Superintendent, North West London
• Tom Sackville and Mary Payne, Brent substance misuse service
•  Danny Coyle, Headteacher of Newman Catholic College 
•  David MacKintosh, drugs policy adviser
•  Brent Youth Parliament member 
• St Giles Trust mentor for schools

 Organised by Brent Safer Neighbourhood Board

After Sufra, putting young people first in Tanzania. Guest post by Mohammed S Mamdani

There was surprise when it was announced that Mohammed S Mamdani, the dynamic force behind Sufra Foodbank was leaving. Mohammed has given Wembley Matters permission  to repost his blog post about the new project in which he is involved in Tanzania LINK.

Here he reflects on his experience:

Kijana Kwanza (Young People First)  is a new youth organisation based in the Kilimanjaro Region of Tanzania. Our aim is to empower a new generation of Tanzanian youth to acquire the knowledge and skills that will enable them to succeed in life.

 

Whilst I have worked in the not for profit sector for over 15 years, until now my experience has been limited to projects in the UK. But following a trip to Tanzania in July 2017 to meet my uncle who had fallen unwell, I was reacquainted with a part of my heritage that I have not always recognised. My paternal great-grandparents moved from India to East Africa at the turn of the 20th century and my father was born in Moshi, a small mercantile town at the foot of Mount Kilimanjaro, Africa's tallest summit.  

I had not visiting Tanzania since I was a child. Twenty year later, as I set foot on the tarmac of Kilimanjaro International Airport, I felt a certain affinity to this part of the world. And as the days passed, I began to recognise that so much of my upbringing - my mother tongue and the food we ate at home - had been influenced by the cultural traditions of East Africa. 

But I was also conscious of a less pleasant truth. Since the middle of the 19th century, hundreds of thousands of Indians escaped poverty in their home-country to build a new life in East Africa (and other parts of Africa), at the invitation of the colonial powers. Soon, many began to prosper and acquire huge wealth, often to the neglect, and dare I say, exploitation of the local African population. 

I have no idea what role, if any, my ancestors played in this project, but when I look upon the graves of my grandparents in Moshi's cemetery, I know that the privileges I enjoy today, bear some relation to the opportunities they discovered in Africa. And possibly, at the expense of local Africans. 

Throughout my short visit to Tanzania, I was deeply moved by the plight of so many local Africans and humbled by their hospitality and willingness to share what little they had. This was despite the racial inequalities (that continue to this day) between East African Indians and locals, and the stubborn contempt that some Indians continue to display - whether openly or discreetly - for natives. 

Whilst such a public critique may offend some within my community, it would be dishonest on my part to perpetuate the romanticised history of Indian minorities in Africa, which I was fed as a child. 

Motivated and determined to right the wrongs of the past, I made several further trips to Tanzania over the next year or so - visiting NGOs, meeting charity leaders and volunteering in different organisations. And through these trips, I made new friends who invited me to their homes and villages to better understand the cultural context of poverty in Tanzania.  

On my last trip to Tanzania in July 2018, I sat down with my good friend Mujibu and proposed some ideas for a new project, based on my critical assessment of the needs of Tanzanian youth and the gaps in current provision. Mujibu affirmed the conclusions of my research and responded with great enthusiasm. He promised to help me setup the project. From that day, Mujibu become my partner in crime.  

Mujibu is an impressive young 'leader' with his own story of growing up in poverty. After completing a vocational course in ICT, he invested in a library pass and taught himself the full A-level syllabus, without the help of a tutor. And a few years ago, he graduated from the University of Dodoma as a qualified teacher. Initially he worked as a manager at the same NGO in Moshi that had sponsored his vocational education, but now he works as a civil servant in a nearby village. In everything he does, Mujibu has a can-do attitude. He's an ambitious grafter, a prolific networker and much more sensible (and tactful) than me!  

After the summer, we continued our conversations on WhatsApp, speaking almost every other day. The first few opportunities just passed, as I hesitated on how to go proceed. How could I hold a full-time job in the UK and setup a charity abroad? 

But eventually, I decided to take the risk. Last month, Mujibu rented a house in Njoro, one of the most deprived districts of Moshi Town, which will soon become the base of our new project - a hostel that will be home to a small group secondary school students. Aside from sponsoring their education and providing for all their welfare needs, we will deliver a diverse programme of extra-curricular activities and life skills training to help our young residents make a successful transition into adulthood. A future where they have the means to overcome all the social, cultural and financial barriers they face in order to become skilled, globally aware and economically independent members of society. 

This is our goal. And I look forward to sharing our story with you. 

Mohammed S Mamdani

You can donate to the project HERE

Help permablitz Northwick Park Community Garden on Sunday May 12th

From Northwick Park Community Garden

Sunday 12th May! That’s the date of our first #permablitz we can now confirm. Are you free that day? If you are then come along and help us start to establish our new Community Garden. The day runs from 10am - 5pm and includes mini workshops run by our permaculture gardening expert Susannah Hall.

We will be planting the first batch of fruit trees, shrubs, herbs and flowers. No previous gardening knowledge is required, you will be shown what to do in a friendly environment where all level of input will be appreciated. We will provide refreshments throughout the day including lunch. 

This is an event for the whole family, so children and dogs (who may need to go on lead for short periods of time for their own safety) are very much welcome. All equipment will be provided, but if you are able to bring along gardening tools you are comfortable with to use on the day then please do so. 

The park is easily accessible from Northwick Park or South Kenton Tube Stations, and there is free parking available in the park. BOOKING IS ESSENTIAL - so that we know numbers for catering etc - please email us at northwickparkcommunitygarden@gmail.com

Welcome changes in Brent Parks Department's management of wildflower meadows

Cowslips in the wildflower meadow at the University of Westminster, Northwick Park

I was very critical when Brent Council decided to save £450,000 by creating wildflower meadows in its parks. I suggested that just letting the grass grow did not in itself constitute a wildflower meadow.  Seed sowing, plug plants and correct management to ensure that the meadows are not overwhelmed by thistles etc are all essential. It seemed more of a cost-cutting exercise than a positive commitment to bio-diversity. LINK

At a recent meeting of Brent Friends of the Earth I was pleased to hear from the very enthusiastic new head of the Brent Parks Service, Kelly Eaton, that one third of each meadow area in our parks and open spaces will be sown with both annual and perennial seeds over a three year programme.  Preparation will involve tilling the seeding area. Predictably Brent Council leader Muhammed Butt was recently involved in a rather artificial photo opportunity:

In her talk Kelly Eaton also said that she would looking at the potential phasing out the use of pesticides in parks and open spaces over the near future. Glysophate is still used in Brent despite the controversy over its  possible association with cancer. 

There is now a biodiversity page on the Brent Council website which is still being developed, that explains the wildflower project: LINK 
 
To increase the amount of biodiversity in our Parks and Open Spaces, a change has been made in the way our grassed areas are managed. Our larger parks allow for a wide mix of uses of the area; including amenity grass to allow for ball games and picnics as well as the newly introduced meadow areas.

This year, we are also introducing wildflowers into our meadow areas. Not only will this introduce bursts of colour into our meadows, it will also lead to increased visits from butterflies, moths, dragonflies, bees and numerous other pollinating insects.

The planned wildlife meadow areas in some of our parks and open spaces:

-->It is refreshing to be able to publish some goods news from Brent Council  and I also welcome changes in the Parks Department in terms of the management of allotments that has meant, as far as my own site at Birchen Grove is concerned, a more proactive approach to letting overgrown plots. Great stuff. Next focus Brent's street and park trees?

Meanwhile if you fancy an early morning outing there is a Dawn Chorus Walk tomorrow, Saturday May 4th, in Gladstone Park. Meet at 5.20am at the Anson Road entrance.

The biodiversity web pages will focus on a different park or open space each month. LINK

Brent alternative free school provision call-in - what are the options?

Details of the Call-In of the Cabinet's decision to support a free school providing alternative education at the Roundwood Centre have now been published LINK

The Call-in was made by Cllrs Chan, Abdi, Mashari, Chappell and Hector.

The request was made by Cllr Jumbo Chan:

I am writing to request that the Cabinet’s decision to confirm approval of the establishment of an Alternative Provision Free School on the site of Roundwood Youth Centre, taken on Monday 15 April 2019, is called in.
Whilst I understand that it is not possible for Brent Council to open new community schools (Education Act 2011), we believe that there have not been compelling attempts to identify – or at least sufficient evidence of compelling attempts to identify – all the routes to establishing a new school on the site of the Roundwood Youth Centre (see Item 5.1 of Report from the Strategic Director of Children and Young People to the Cabinet on 15 April 2019). This may include, for example, evidence of formally approaching existing Local Authority schools to develop plans for them to run an Alternative Provision Local Authority unit at the site of Roundwood Youth Centre. 

The proposed alternative course of action suggested: 

Cllr Abdi:

We need to fully explore all the available alternatives. I am in favour of expanding existing local authority controlled schools instead of assisting the set up of another free school in Brent.

Cllr Chan:

That the Cabinet explore and evidence options for a Local Authority controlled school to provide Alternative Provision at the site of Roundwood Centre, and then proceed a with Local Authority controlled school to provide Alternative Provision at the site of Roundwood Centre.

That the Cabinet explore and evidence options for a Local Authority controlled school to provide Alternative Provision at the site of another site, for example, Roe Green Strathcona. 

Because the present and previous Labour administrations made little effort to oppose academisation, and indeed sometimes supported it, there are now no local authority secondary schools in Brent - they are all either academies or faith schools.  There are three types of academy in Brent: Capital City, (formerly Willesden High) which was the original Labour concept of converting failing local authority schools; stand-alone academies which converted from  local authority status mainly for financial rather than ideological reasons, and schools that are run by academy chains (Ark Wembley, Ark Elvin, Crest).  Special education provision is also largely academised via Multi-Academy Trusts except for the Phoenix Arch School.  There is also the Michaela Free School with its 'private school ethos' and controversial disciplinary regime and educational philosophy.

There was some wavering by primary schools a few years ago over academisation but the vast majority remain under local authority oversight.

If the aim is for the alternative provision to be run by a local authority school there appear to be two main choices: run by a Brent local authority primary school or by a local authority secondary school from a neighbouring borough.

Despite academisation some of the stand-alone secondary academies maintain a close relationship with the local authority and are seen by the council as part of the Brent 'family of schools'. They along with local authority primary schools are part of the Brent Schools Partnership (BSP).  The special schools have formed Multi-Academy Trusts but are  not part of an academy chain.  They might be cited as preferable providers if no local authority school solution is available, on the grounds that they have deep roots in the borough and links via the BSP to the council. However they all lack democratic accountability and oversight  and this is particularly worrying when some of the borough's most vulnerable pupils will attend the provision.

A further possibility is that the provider is a secondary faith school with a positive record of social inclusion.

An aspect of the proposal that will not be considered at the Call-In is the consequence of an expanded alternative provision in Brent. Ofsted has expressed concern over 'off-rolling' when pupils disappear from secondary school rolls just before examinations and there has been long-term concern over disproportionate permanent exclusions of Black Caribbean boys. Will secondary schools, keen to maintain or enhance their position in the league tables that are based on examination results, offload pupils that are unlikely to achieve good passes on to the alternative provision?  Will it contain disproportionate numbers of Black Caribbean boys or pupils with special educational needs or disabilities?

People's Voice: Help Brent discuss Brexit - May 10th Willesden Green Library

From Brent4Europe